China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 06-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/13....................................................................6/10..................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

十

一

五期星

Sixth Month, Eleventh Day

Friday, June 11

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天天母

靈醫喜倉

Maternal Granary

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶吉凶

酉巳丑

中中吉

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
詞祈祭結

訟福祀網

Binding Nets

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Lawsuits and Litigation

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

二

庚

寅

木

牛

成

Second Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上立納入

樑約采學

修交裁會

倉易衣友

醞修醫出

釀造病行

安動開嫁

葬土市娶

鳴始鵙

刀大白歸

砧煞虎忌

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Physician Treatments

Opening Markets

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Graves

Shrikes Cry Out

(the twenty-sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Return Taboo

White Tiger

Great Balefulness

Sword Anvil

————

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

白 水

White, Water

————

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)

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle