China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-05

 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)

五

日

四期星

Eighth Month, Fifth Day

Thursday, August 5

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

三歲歲

合支祿

Generational Emolument

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

吉凶凶

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
修莳栽

倉插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Repairing Granaries

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

七

乙

酉

水

斗

滿

Twenty-Seventh Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Dipper (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

補交掃

垣易舍

塞修裁

穴造衣

成動合

服土帳

安作開

葬灶市

忌血

天灾天

火煞狗

Appropriate Activities

Sweeping Rooms

Cutting-out Clothing

Linking Sails

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Stove Work

Repairing Embankments

Plugging Caves

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Blood Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Heavenly Canine

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Fire

————

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

丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain

————

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)

門

磨 碓

Gate

Mortar, Pestle