China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 05-31

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/1..................................................................................................................................................5/25

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                       

                                                         Section One

                                                  Solar Calendar Date

                                              (top to bottom, right to left)

卅

一

一期星

Fifth Month, Thirty-First Day

Monday, May 31

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月進天

恩神恩

Heavenly Kindness

Entering Spirits

Lunar Kindness

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

中中吉

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
補動穿

垣土井

Boring Wells

Moving Soil

Patching Embankments

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二

十

己

卯

土

張

開

Twentieth Day Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

竪嫁祭

柱娶祀

上裁求

樑衣嗣

安理入

牀髮學

入移出

倉徙行

至秋麥

天班地

火煞囊

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Seeking Inheritance

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Patterning Hair

Moving Residences

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Entering Granaries

Grain Ripens

(the twenty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods)

Baleful Astral Influences

Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

Classified Balefulness

Heavenly Conflagration

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left）

人 人

Person, Person

————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation is under the bottom of each character)

占

門 大

Divination

Gate, Great