China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 12-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/2/2021..........................................................................................................................................12/26

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

六

日期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Sunday, December 26

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三母

醫喜合倉

Maternal Granary

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

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

吉吉中

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中凶凶

亥未卯

中凶凶

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 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

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
動安置買

土牀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Positioning Beds

Moving Soil

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

三

戊

寅

土

虛

成

Twenty-Third Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuyin (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上移裁會

樑徙衣友

作開理出

灶市髮行

醞交醫嫁

釀易病娶

安竪掃納

葬柱舍采

解角麋

土水月下

符痕忌兀

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Sweeping Rooms

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Graves

Elk Shed Their Antlers

(the sixty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee

Lunar Taboo

Water Scar

Soil Charm

————

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

人 地

Person, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice