China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 07-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/20.....................................................................................................,,,,,,,,,,,..................................7/12

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)

十

二

二期星

Seventh Month, Twelfth Day

Tuesday, July 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

五金母

富匱倉

Maternal Granary

Golden Cupboard

Five Abundances

————

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

凶凶吉

酉巳丑

吉中凶

戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

中中吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

祭作修

祀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

四

丙

寅

火

室

危

Fourteenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

開出會

倉伙友

安入訂

牀入婚

成開納

服市采

安交嫁

葬易娶

壁居蟀蟋

俱游月

將禍忌

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Meeting Companions

Staying Home

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Opening Granaries

Positioning Beds

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Crickets Lodge Themselves into Walls

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

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Taboo

Natatorial Disaster

Everything General

————

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

白

White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

廚

爐 灶

Kitchen

Furnace, Stove