China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 07-02

 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)

二

日

六期星

Seventh Month, Second Day

Saturday, July 2

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十生時月

靈氣德德

Lunar Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

Engendered Vapor

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶凶凶

酉巳丑

吉吉中

戌午寅

凶中中

亥未卯

吉中中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌
田伐作修

獵木灶廚

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Felling Timber

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

四

丙

辰

土

氐

開

Fourth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingchen (53/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

龍分

————

宜

動移出祭

土徙行祀

上開嫁入

樑市娶學

置修納會

產造采友

生夏半

陽五四龍

  將虛祥不口

Dragon Separation

(A traditional summer festival in Chinese history)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Setting-up Industry

Crowdipper Flourishes

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

Baleful Asterisms

Dragon Orifice

Four Auspicous-Nots

Five Voids

Yang General

————

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

丫

Bifurcation

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

栖 灶 廚

Perch, Stove, Kitchen