China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 06-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/30...........................................................................................................................................6/23

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)

廿

五

五期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Friday, June 25

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時十時

氣陽靈德

Temporal Exemplarity

Ten Spirits

Temporal Yang

Engendered Vapor

————

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

中吉凶

酉巳丑

凶中中

戌午寅

凶凶吉

亥未卯

吉凶中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00=-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
補動出開

垣土財倉

 Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Moving Soil

Patching Embankments

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

六

甲

辰

火

鬼

開

Sixteenth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiachen (41/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

龍分

宜

移出祭

徙行祀

竪裁祈

柱衣福

上納入

樑采學

囊地

陽五無寡

將虛祿宿

Divided Dragon

(a traditional mid-fith month festival on the agricultural calendar))

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

Baleful Astral Influences

Orphan Hostel

Without Emolument

Five Voids

Yang General

————

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

丫

Bifurcation

————

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)

栖 碓 門

Perch, Pestle, Gate