China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2022 10-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/29..................................................................10/25...........................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

廿

六

三期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Wednesday, October 26

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時四歲

德相德

Generational Exemplarity

Four Facings

Timely Exemplarity

————

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

凶凶吉

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

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

問放開

卜水渠

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Divinatory Inquiries

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

二

壬

子

木

箕

滿

Second Day (Temtj Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: renzi (49/60)

Phase (element): Wood

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

交裁祭

易衣祀

入理入

倉髮學

成整會

服甲友

安開出

葬市行

忌歸

陽天灾

將火煞

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Trimming Nails

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Entering Granaries

Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Conflagration

Yang General

————

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

白 地

White, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

倉

碓 庫

Granary

Pestle, Storehouse