China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 01-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/21.......................................................................................................................................................1/14

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)

二

十

五期星

First Month, Twentieth Day

Friday, January 20

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

金相時

匱日德

Timely Exemplarity

Facing Days

Golden Cupboard

————

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

凶吉中

酉巳丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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

祭置買

祀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Venerating Anestors

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

九

戊

寅

土

牛

除

Twenty-Ninth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuyin (15/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9//28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

寒大

三十申

十六正

分時   

宜

開移嫁

市徙娶

作掃裁

灶舍衣

乳雞

復結上

喪煞兀

Great Cold

Precisely at the shen hour; 16:30 o'clock

(the twenty-fourth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Sweeping Rooms

Opening Markets

Stove Work

Pheasant Hens Brood

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

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee

Plundered Balefulness

Return Mourning

————

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

白

White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

房

爐 牀

Edifice

Furnace, Bed