China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 11-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/25................................................................................................................................................11/18

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

一

日期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-First Day

Sunday, November 21

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生歲三歲

氣祿合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Generational Emolument

Engendered Vapor

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

中凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

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
塞補伐詞

穴垣木訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Felling Timber

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

癸

酉

金

房

開

Seventeenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安裁祭

牀衣祀

安掃祈

門舍福

作動求

灶土嗣

開上理

渠樑髮

煞班

五灾陽朱

離煞將雀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Seeking Inheritance

Patterning Hair

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Sweeping Rooms

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Vermilion Bird

Yang General

Disastrous Balefulness

Five Separations

————

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

白 林

White, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

門 牀 房

Gate, Bed, Edifice