China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 01-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/31........................................................................................................................................1/25

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 o

f 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

九

六期星

First Month, Twenty-Ninth Day

Saturday, January 29

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

敬德歲

安日支

GenerationalBranch

Exemplary Days

Reverential Calm

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

吉凶吉

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
苫放開

蓋水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Entering Water

Thatched Coverings

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

七

壬

午

木

胃

執

Twenty-Seventh Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renwu (17//60)

Phase (element): Wood

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

田修出

獵造行

伐動理

木土髮

成安裁

服牀衣

安補整

葬捉甲

池咸

俱 大 月

將亡空害

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Cutting-out Clothing

Trimming Nails

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Positioning Beds

Seizing and Capturing

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

Felling Timber

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Widespread Pond

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Harm

Great Loss-Vacancy

Everything General

————

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

倉

碓 庫

Granary

Pestle, Storehouse