China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-07

 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)

七

日

六期星

Eighth Month, Seventh Day

Saturday, August 7

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

明時陰歲

堂陰德馬

Generational Equinity

Yin Exemplarity

Timely Yin

Hall of Luminosity

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

中中中

酉巳丑

吉凶凶

戌午寅

吉吉吉

亥未卯

吉凶凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
成除嫁理

服服娶髮

Patterning Hair

Marriage Alliances

Discarding Clothing

Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

九

丁

亥

土

女

定

Twenty-Ninth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

秋立

九三未

分刻正

宜

醞上掃會

釀樑舍友

納結動出

畜網土行

至風涼

無招厭重

祿搖對日

Autumn is Established

Precisely at the wei hour

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

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Sweeping Rooms

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Binding Nets

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Cooling Winds Arrive

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

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days

Mutual Loathing

Rollicking Braggadocio

Without Emolument

————

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

白 人

White, 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)

牀 庫 倉

Bed, Storehouse, Granary