China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 06-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/28...............................,,,,,,,,,,,...........................................................................................................6/21

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

一

二期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-First Day

Tuesday, June 21

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉王吉

宇日神

Auspicious Spirits

Kingly Days

Jade Expanse

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

吉凶吉

戌午寅

吉中中

亥未卯

凶中中

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 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌
除遠栽

服行種

Planting and Cultivating

Distant Journeys

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

三

乙

巳

火

觜

閉

Twenty-Third Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yisi (42//60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

至夏

十十申

四七正

分時    

————

宜

補建裁

垣屋衣

塞作移

穴灶居

解角鹿

重水蛇

日痕口

Summer Arrives

(Summer Solstice)

Precisely at the shen hour; 17:14 o'clock

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

Appropriate Activities

Cutting-Out Clothing

Moving Residences

Establishing Rooms

Stove Work

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

Deer Shed Their Antlers

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

Baleful Asterisms

Snake Mouth

Water Scar

Doubled Days

————

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

人

Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

碓

牀 磨

Pestle

Bed, Mortar