China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/20.................................................................................................................................................8/13

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

二期星

Eighth Month, Seventeenth Day

Tuesday, August 17

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十陰合月

靈德日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Yin Exemplarity

Ten Spirits

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

中中中

酉巳丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

吉凶凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

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 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
田捕整理

獵捉甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Trimming Nails

Seizing and Capturing

Field Venery (Hunting)

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

十

丁

酉

火

觜

除

Tenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

修建修祭

倉屋造祀

納安動祈

畜門土福

除安竪訂

服牀柱婚

安掃上納

葬舍樑采

將陰

往元咸伏

亡武池斷

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Establishing Rooms

Positioning Rooms

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Discarding Clothing

Positioning Graves

Yin General

Baleful Astral Influences

Prostrate Severance

Widespread Pond

Primal Martiality

Toward Perilousness

————

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

人 人

Person, 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)

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate