China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 05-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/21...........................................................................................................................................5/14

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

二期星

Fifth Month, Seventeenth Day

Tuesday, May 17

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

聖月三歲

心德合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Lunar Exemplarity

Sagely Heart-Mind

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

凶吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
田塔苫結

獵厠蓋網

Binding Nets

Thatched Coverings

Building Toilets

Field Venery (Goin' Fishin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

庚

午

土

室

除

Seventeenth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengwu (7//60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

土醫婚祭

上病納祀

樑開采祈

安市嫁福

牀交娶會

成易移友

服修徙出

安造理行

葬動髮訂

俱大大咸

將敗時池

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

 Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Treatments

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms

Widespread Pond

Great Temporality

Great Defeat

Everything General

————

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

白

White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination