China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 12-03

 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)

三

日

五期星

Twelfth Month, Third Day

Friday, December 3

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲三歲

祿合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Generational Emolument

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

吉凶吉

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 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
塞補栽

穴垣種

Planting and Cultivating

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

九

乙

酉

水

婁

開

Twenty-Ninth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound 16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

動裁祭

土衣祀

上納入

樑采學

安移出

牀徙行

開開嫁

渠市 x

煞班

天五大

 火離亡空

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void

Five Separations

Heavenly Conflagration

————

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

白 林

White, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

門

磨 碓

Gate

Mortar, Pestle