China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-18

 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

八

三期星

Eighth Month, Eighteenth Day

Wednesday, August 18

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

母合天

倉日德

Heavenly Exemplarity

Linked Days

Maternal Granary

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

吉凶中

酉巳丑

中中吉

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
行除置

喪服產

Setting-up Production

Discarding Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

一

戊

戌

火

參

滿

Eleventh Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuxu (35/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上納會

樑采友

修移出

倉徙行

補修訂

塞造婚

栽動嫁

種土娶

鳴蟬寒

三債水

喪不痕

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Repairing and Cultivating

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Patching and Plugging

Planting and Cultivating

Cold Cicadas Chirp

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

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar

Debt Not

Three Mournings

————

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

人 水

Person, Water

————

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)

房

栖 牀

Edifice

Perch, Bed