China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 03-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/14..................................................................................................................................................3/7

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)

十

日

四期星

Third Month, Tenth Day

Thursday, March 10

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

金六歲

堂合德

Generational Exemplarity

Six Linkages

Golden Hall

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

凶凶中

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

吉吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

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
修放開

倉水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Repairing Granaries

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

八

壬

戌

水

角

危

Eighth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renxu (59//60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

安裁會

牀衣友

作移出

灶居行

捕開訂

捉市婚

納交納

畜易采

鳴庚倉

陰月犬

將煞口

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-Out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Seizing and Capturing

Livestock Payments

Orioles Sing

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

Baleful Asterisms

Canine Orifice

Lunar Balefulness

Yin General

————

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

人

Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

倉

栖 庫

Granary

Perch, Storehouse