China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 03-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/6..............................................................3/3..................................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

三三

日月

四期星

Third Month, Third Day

Wednesday, March 3

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吉天官麒

期貴日麟

Unicorn

Official Days

Heavenly Nobility

Auspicious Time-Slice

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

凶中吉

酉巳丑

凶凶中

戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

吉吉吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

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 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
開穿時栽

池井插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

一

乙

卯

水

井

除

First Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yimao (52//60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

動掃訂祭

土舍婚祀

安開嫁入

牀市娶學

作交理會

灶易髮友

成修醫出

服造病行

池咸

陰朱大小

  將雀敗亡空

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Patterning Hair

Physician Visits

Sweeping Rooms

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Completing Clothing

Widespread Pond

Baleful Asterisms

Small Loss-Void

Great Defeat

Vermilion Bird

Yin General

————

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