China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 10-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/27...........................................................................................................................10/20

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

七

三期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Wednesday, October 27

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時王天

氣陽日赦

Heavenly Amnesty

Kingly Days

Timely Yang

Engendered Balefulness

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

吉凶中

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 Inauspicious

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
除安置買

服牀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Positioning Beds

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

二

戊

申

土

箕

開

Twenty-Second Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

交醫訂祭

易病婚祀

上移嫁入

樑徙娶學

修赴納會

倉任采友

納開裁出

畜市衣行

喪復

火大招厭

星亡空搖碓

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Physician Treatments

Moving Residences

Taking-up Official Service

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Return Mourning

Baleful Astral Influences

Mutual Repression

Rollicking Braggadocio

Great Loss-Void

Fire Star

————

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

人

Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice