China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 09-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/8.....................................................................................................................................................9/1

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)

六

日

二期星

Ninth Month, Sixth Day

Tuesday, September 6

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月三歲歲

德合支德

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Lunar Exemplarity

————

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

凶凶中

酉巳丑

中吉中

戌午寅

吉中凶

亥未卯

吉吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌

行成放開

喪服水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

一

壬

戌

水

室

滿

Eleventh Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renxu (59/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

補修嫁會

塞造娶友

栽動裁出

種土衣行

納上移訂

畜樑徙婚

安開醫鈉

葬倉病采

不債

三厭水下

喪對痕兀

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Granaries

Patching and Plugging

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee

Water Scar

Mutual Repression

Three Mournings

————

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

人 水

Person, Water

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese should be read left to right）

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary