China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 07-07

  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)

七

日

三期星

Seventh Month, Seventh Day

Wednesday, July 7

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合歲歲

日干德

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Stem

Linked Days

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

吉凶中

酉巳丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅

凶中中

亥未卯

吉凶中

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
動作修

土灶廚

 Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Moving Soil

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

八

丙

辰

土

箕

收

Twenty-Eighth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingchen (53/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)*

*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

暑小

六初卯

分刻初

宜

捕

捉

納

畜

至風溫

俱寡地

將宿囊

Slight Heat

At the beginning of the mao hour

(the eleventh of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Seizing and Capturing

Livestock Payments

Warm Winds Arrive

(the thirty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

Orphan Hostel

Everything General

————

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

丫 天

Bifurcation, Heaven

————

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)

廚

栖 灶

Kitchen

Perch, Stove