China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 01-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/2.......................................................................................................................................................1/25

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

七

五期星

First Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Friday, January 27

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天母德天

喜倉合月

Heavenly Lunarity

Exemplary Linkage

Maternal Granary

Heavenly Happiness

————

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

凶吉吉

酉巳丑

吉凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

————

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

忌

取田時栽

魚獵插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

六

乙

酉

水

婁

成

Sixth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16//28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

上開嫁祭

樑市娶祀

修交納祈

倉易采福

成修移入

服造徙學

安動醫出

葬土病行

煞班

俱大五大

 將煞離亡空

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void

Five Separations

Great Balefulness

Everything General

————

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

白 山

White, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle