China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 05-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/13.....................................................................................................................................................5/6

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

二

四期星

Fifth Month, Twelfth Day

Thursday, May 12

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天合月

醫喜日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

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

凶中吉

酉巳丑

吉凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

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 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
進新時栽

水船插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

New Boats

Entering Water

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

二

乙

丑

金

斗

成

Twelfth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yichou (2//60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Dipper (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上醫出祭

樑病行祀

修開嫁祈

倉市娶福

成修納入

服造采學

安動裁會

葬土衣友

痕水

歸厭火牛

忌對星口

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Physician Treatments

Opening Markets 

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

Ox Mouth

Fire Star

Mutual Repression

Return Taboo

————

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

白 山

White, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

厠 磨 碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle