China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-04

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/7...............................................................................................................................................7/31

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)

四

日

三期星

Eighth Month, Fourth Day

Wednesday, August 4

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不陽月天

將德德德

Heavenly Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

Yang Exemplarity

Not General

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅

中凶凶

亥未卯

中凶中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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
動詞

土訟

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Positioning Beds

Field Venery (Hunting)

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

六

甲

申

水

箕

除

Twenty-Sixth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安修嫁祭

門造娶祀

作動納祈

灶土采福

放竪裁入

水柱衣學

安上移會

葬樑徙友

不債

劫孤上水

煞辰兀痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Putting-into Water

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar

Upper Amputee

Orphan Dawn

Plundered Balefulness

————

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

丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire

————

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