Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"
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3/31..................................................................................................................................................3/25 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 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.
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom, right to left)
Third Month, Thirty-First Day
Thursday, March 31
Section Two
Beneficent Stars
(top to bottom, right to left)
十陰麒德歲
靈德麟日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Unicorn
Yin Exemplarity
Ten Spirits
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left)
申辰甲
凶中吉
酉巳丑
凶吉凶
戌午寅
吉吉吉
亥未卯
中凶吉
23:00-1:00 Auspicious
1:00-3:00 Inauspicious
3:00-5:00 Auspicious
5:00-7:00 Auspicious
7:00-9:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious
15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between
————
Section Four
Activities to Avoid
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
忌
進新穿針詞
水船耳灸訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Boring Ears (Ear Cleaning)
New Boats
Entering Water
————
Section Five
Cosmological Information
廿
九
癸
未
木
井
定
Twenty-Ninth Day (Second Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: guiwei (20//60)
Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
作上開訂祭
灶樑市婚祀
納修交納祈
畜倉易采福
成醞修嫁會
服釀造娶友
安安動裁出
葬牀土衣行
電始
俱血 觸 大下
將忌 龍水 亡空兀
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves
Lightning Commences
(the twelfth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)
Baleful Asterisms
Lower Amputee
Great Loss-Void
Crashing Dragon-Water
Blood Taboo
Everything General
————
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left)
白 鬼
White, Person
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items