China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 07-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/9...............................................................................................................................................7/1

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)

五

日

一期星

Seventh Month, Fifth Day

Monday, July 5

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三母

醫喜合倉

Maternal Granry

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

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

凶吉凶

酉巳丑

吉中中

戌午寅

吉凶吉

亥未卯

中凶中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

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 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
祈祭出開

福祀財倉

 Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

六

甲

寅

水

心

成

Twenty-Sixth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

醞修理入

釀造髮學

納動醫會

畜土病友

栽上開出

種樑市行

安築交訂

葬堤易婚

忌歸

八白大刀

專虎煞砧

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Constructing Dikes

Fermenting Beverages

Tending Livestock

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Sword Anvil

Great Balefulness

White Tiger

Eight Specialties

————

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

丫 水

Bifurcation, 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 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination