China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 09-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/5.................................................................................................................................................9/28

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

九

三期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day

Wednesday, September 29

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六母天月

合倉恩德

Lunar Exemplarity

Heavenly Kindness

Maternal Granary

Six Linkages

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

中吉凶

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

吉凶凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

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 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
取結出開

魚網財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Binding Nets

Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

三

庚

辰

金

箕

危

Twenty-Third Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安開嫁祭

牀市娶祀

作修裁祈

灶造衣福

納動納出

畜土采行

安上理會

葬樑髮友

將陰

天月大月

  刑煞亡空忌

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Going Out (and about)

Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Grain Payments

Patterning Hair

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Yin General

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo

Great Loss-Void

Lunar Balefulness

Heavenly Punishment

————

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

白 火

White, Fire

————

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)

栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle