China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 01-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/13.......................................................................................................................................................1/6

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

二

四期星

First Month, Twelfth Day

Thursday, January 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天三歲

德德合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Heavenly Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

————

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

凶吉吉

亥未卯

中凶中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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

作塔苫結

灶厠蓋網

Binding Nets

Thatched Coverings

Building Outhouses

Stove Work

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

一

庚

午

土

角

執

Twenty-First Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1//28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

上移訂祭

樑徙婚祀

安理納祈

牀髮采福

納修嫁會

畜造娶友

安動裁出

葬土衣行

虛五

陽月咸小

將害池耗

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

Small Squander

Widespread Pond

Lunar Harm

Yang General

————

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

人 地

Person, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination