China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/12...........................................................8/8...........................Monthly Calendar Information

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

二

四期星

Eighth Month, Twelfth Day

Thursday, August 12

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天月

醫喜德

Lunar Exemplarity

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

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

凶中中

酉巳丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

凶中凶

亥未卯

吉凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
作修開

灶廚渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

五

壬

辰

水

奎

成

Fifth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

動訂祭

土婚祀

上納祈

樑采福

成裁求

服衣嗣

安開入

葬市學

降露白

火血月

星忌忌

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Seeking Inheritance

Entering Study

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

White Dew Descends

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

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo

Blood Taboo

Fire Star

————

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

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)

倉

栖 庫

Granary

Perch, Storehouse