China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 09-19

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/25.....................................................................................................................................................9/18

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

九

一期星

Ninth Month, Nineteenth Day

Monday, September 19

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十歲六歲

靈祿合支

Generational Branch

Six Linkages

Generational Emolument

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶中吉

酉巳丑

中凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中吉凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

除嫁時栽

服娶插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Marriage Alliances

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

四

乙

亥

火

張

滿

Twenty-Fourth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

動醫出祭

土病行祀

上開納祈

樑市采福

補交裁入

塞易衣學

入修移會

倉造徙友

將俱

元復五重

武喪虛日

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Patching and Plugging

Entering Granaries

Everything General

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days

Five Voids

Return Mourning

Primal Martiality

————

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）

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle