China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 05-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/29...........................................................................................................................................5/22

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)

廿

六

四期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Thursday, May 26

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進月生

神恩氣

Engendered Vapor

Lunar Kindness

Entering Spirits

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

凶中吉

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
動開穿

土池井

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Moving Soil

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

六

己

卯

土

井

開

Twenty-Sixth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jimao (16//60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上訂祭

樑婚祀

入嫁入

倉娶學

結理會

網髮友

牧安出

養牀行

死草靡

地水債

囊痕不

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Positioning Beds

Raising Beams

Entering Granaries

Binding Nets

Tending Livestock

Waving Grasses Wither

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

Baleful Asterisms

Debt Not

Water Scar

Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

————

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

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

占

門 大

Divination

Gate, Great