China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 04-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/21.................................................................................................................................................4/14

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

七

日期星

Fourth Month, Seventeenth Day

Sunday, April 17

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天三

恩醫喜合

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

Lunar Kindness

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

吉中吉

戌午寅

凶凶中

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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
進新問結

水船卜網

Binding Nets

Divinatory Inquiries

New Boats

Entering Water

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

庚

子

土

虛

成

Seventeenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengzi (37//60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

事用王土

————

宜

納開出祭

畜市行祀

成動嫁入

服土娶學

安上納會

葬樑采友

煞班

陰天歸水

將牢忌痕

Earth King Utilization Matters

(a traditional way of dividing the year into 5 periods of 72 days)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Livestock Payments

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar

Return Taboo

Heavenly Incarceration

Yin General

————

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination