China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 08-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/17...................................................................................................................................,,,,,,,,,,,.......8/11

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

五

一期星

Eighth Month, Fifteenth Day

Monday, August 15

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天臨時民時

貴日陰日德

Timely Exemplarity

Peopled Days

Timely Yin

Entering Days

Heavenly Nobility

————

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

吉中吉

戌午寅

凶凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

行成除問結

喪服靈卜網

Binding Nets

Divinatory Inquiries

Discarding Clothing

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

八

庚

子

土

畢

定

Eighteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

伏末

————

宜

安醞修出祭

牀釀造行祀

作開動裁祈

灶倉土衣福

納出上移會

畜財樑徙友

不債

俱復重死下

將日喪氣兀

End of Prostration

(the third of three hot weather stretches each summer)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Fermenting Beverages

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Note General

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee

Death Vapor

Doubled Mourning

Returning Days

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）

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination