China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 06-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/22...........................................................................................................................................6/14

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

七

四期星

Sixth Month, Seventeenth Day

Thursday, June 17

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

相不月歲

日將德德

Generational Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity 

Not General

Facing Days

————

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

吉凶凶

酉巳丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

吉中凶

亥未卯

吉凶中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
田安作修

獵牀灶廚

 Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Positioning Beds

Field Venery (Hunting)

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

八

丙

申

火

奎

滿

Eighth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingshen (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

修開嫁祭

倉市娶祀

補交裁祈

塞易衣福

栽動納會

種土采友

安上移出

葬樑徙行

虛五

天無孤五

狗祿辰離

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Patching and Plugging

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations

Orphan Dawn

Without Emolument

Heavenly Canine

————

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

白 地

White, Earth

————

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 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen