China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 06-30

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/2...............................,,,,,,,,,,,..................................6/29.........................................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

三

十

四期星

Sixth Month, Thirtieth Day

Thursday, June 30

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三母

醫喜合倉

Maternal Granary

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

————

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

凶吉凶

酉巳丑

吉中中

戌午寅

吉凶吉

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌
祈祭出開

福祀行倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

二

甲

寅

水

角

成

Second Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

醞交裁入

釀易衣學

安修理會

牀造髮友

栽動醫出

種土病行

安上開訂

葬樑市婚

忌歸

陽大白八

將煞虎專

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Cutting-out Clothing

Patterning Hair

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Beds

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

Eight Specialties

White Tiger

Great Balefulness

Yang General

————

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

白 水

White, Water

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination