China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 11-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/3...................................................................................................................................................11/26

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

六期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Friday, November 27

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天進合月

恩神日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Entering Spirits

Heavenly Kindness

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

中中吉

酉巳丑

凶凶凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
取田開穿

魚獵池井

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

三

己

卯

土

女

定

Twenty-Third Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上開會祭

樑市友祀

修交出祈

倉易行福

成修嫁求

服造娶嗣

安動納入

葬土采學

下地上天

降氣升氣

元死月楊

武氣忌忌

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Seeking Inheritance

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Heaven is Above, Earth is Below;

Qi Vapors Rise, Qi Vapors Descend*

(the fifty-ninth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

and I have never seen this.

Baleful Astral Influences

Yang Taboo

Lunar Taboo

Death Vapor

Primal Martiality

————

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

白 人

White, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination