China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 06-23

 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

三

四期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Third Day

Thursday, June 23

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天德歲合歲

貴日支日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Generational Branch

Exemplary Days

Heavenly Nobility

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

吉吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
行成除整理

喪服靈甲髮

Patterning Hair

Trimming Nails

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

五

丁

未

水

井

除

Twenty-Fifth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingwei (44//60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

修修移出祭

倉造徙行祀

安動掃訂祈

牀土舍婚福

栽上開納求

種樑市采嗣

納醞交嫁會

畜釀易娶友

星短

陰復重勾三

將日喪陳喪

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Seeking Inheritance

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Sweeping Rooms

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Making Liquor

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Beds

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Short Star

Baleful Asterisms

Three Mournings

Narrative Hook

Doubled Mourning

Repeated Days

Yin General

————

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

白 林

White, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary