China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 03-04

  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)

四

日

五期星

Third Month, Fourth Day

Thursday, March 4

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十月福月

靈恩德德

Lunar Exemplarity

Fortunate Exemplarity

Lunar Kindness

Ten Spirits

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

凶凶吉

酉巳丑

吉吉中

戌午寅

凶中中

亥未卯

吉中中

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
行成作修

喪服灶㕑

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

二

丙

辰

土

鬼

滿

Second Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingchen (53//60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

開移訂祭

倉徙婚祀

出修納祈

財造采福

納動嫁會

畜土娶友

安上裁出

葬樑衣行

不債

三招厭龍

喪搖對口

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-Out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Dragon Mouth

Mutual Repression

Rocking Braggadocio

Three Mournings

————

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

白 地

White, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

栖 灶 㕑

Perch, Stove, Kitchen