China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 10-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/7....................................................................................................................................................10/1

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)

三

日

一期星

Tenth Month, Third Day

Monday, October 3

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時金三母

陰堂合倉

Maternal Granary

Three Linkages

Golden Hall

Timely Yin

————

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

凶中吉

酉巳丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

凶凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00  Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

產修時栽

室置插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Repairing Rooms

Setting-up Production

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

八

己

丑

火

危

定

Eighth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jichou (26/60)

Phase (element): Fire

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

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

上開嫁祭

樑市娶祀

作交納祈

灶易采福

修修移會

倉造居友

納動理出

畜土髮行

涸始水

俱勾死上

將陳氣兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Water Begins to Dry Up

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

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee

Death Vapor

Narrative Hook

Everything General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

人 林

Person, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

厠 門 占

Toilet, Gate, Divination