China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 07-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/21...............................................................................................................................................7/15

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

六期星

Seventh Month, Seventeenth Day

Saturday, July 17

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

母合歲歲

倉日干德

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Stem

Linked Days

Maternal Granary

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

凶凶吉

酉巳丑

吉中凶

戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

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 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
祈祭作修

福祀灶廚

 Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

八

丙

寅

火

胃

危

Eighth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

醞納裁會

釀財衣友

納安出訂

畜牀火婚

成修入嫁

成倉宅娶

安栽開納

葬種市采

摯始應

游刀俱上

禍砧將兀

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Going Out (and about)

Starting Fires

Staying Home

Opening Markets

Capital Outflow

Positioning Beds

Repairing Granaries

Planting and Cultivating

Fermenting Beverages

Tending Livestock

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Hawks Initiate Sincerity*

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

*this seems to be a strange character to use; 擊 might rather be expected.

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee

Everything General

Sword Anvil

Natatorial Disaster

————

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

人

Person

————

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