China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 09-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/6.................................................................................................................................................8/30

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)

一九

日月

三期星

Ninth Month, First Day

Wednesday, September 1

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時月六歲

德德合支

Generational Branch

Six Linkage

Lunar Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

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

凶吉吉

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中凶凶

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

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
田問放開

獵卜水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Divinatory Inquiries

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

五

壬

子

木

箕

定

Twenty-Fifth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renzi (49/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

土移行祭

上徙訂祀

樑開婚祈

作市嫁福

灶交娶入

修易裁學

倉修衣會

安造納友

葬動采出

死陽上

氣將兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee

Yang General

Death Vapor

————

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

白

White

————

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)

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary