China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 08-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/29.................................................................................................................................................8/21

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)

廿

八

六期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Saturday, August 28

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天德天

赦合月

Heavenly Lunarity

Exemplary Linkage

Heavenly Amnesty

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

吉吉中

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中中凶

亥未卯

中凶中

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 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

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
安置買

牀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Positioning Beds

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

一

戊

申

土

氐

建

Twenty-First Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上理會

樑髮友

安醫出

門病行

納掃嫁

畜舍娶

安納裁

葬財衣

肅始地天

土猴下

府口兀

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Sweeping Rooms

Cash Payments

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates and Doors

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Heaven and Earth Become Stern

(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee

Monkey Mouth

Soil Palace

————

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

人 鬼

Person, Ghost

————

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

爐 牀

Edifice

Furnace, Bed