China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 04-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/13.................................................................................................................................................4/5

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)

五

日

二期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day

Tuesday, April 5

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天聖母

醫喜心倉

Maternal Granary

Sagely Heart-Mind

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

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

凶吉中

酉巳丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

凶凶凶

亥未卯

中中吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

————

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

忌
行除置買

喪服業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Discarding Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

五

戊

子

火

翌

成

Fifth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuzi (25//60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)*

*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

明清

二三寅

十時初

分       

宜

上開出祭

樑市行祀

作動嫁會

灶土娶友

華始桐

復復班月

日喪煞忌

Pure Brightness (QIngming)

At the beginning of the yin hour; 3:20 a.m.

(the fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Paulownia Blooms

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

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Taboo

Classified Balefulness

Repeated Mourning

Repeated Days

————

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

碓 牀 房

Pestle, Bed, Edifice