China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 03-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/5.........................................................................................................................................................2/25

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)

一三

日月

三期星

Third Month, First Day

Wednesday, March 1

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十民時歲

靈日德德

Generational Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

Peopled Days

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶中凶

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

中中凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

塔苫置買

厠蓋業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Thatched Coverings

Building Toilets

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

十

戊

午

火

參

定

Tenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingsi (55/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21//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

修交納祈

倉易采福

作修裁會

灶造衣友

安動移出

葬土徙行

動萌木草

俱死白九

  將氣虎鬼土

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Grasses and Trees Sprout

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

Baleful Asterisms

Nine Ghost-Soils

White Tiger

Death Vapor

Everything General

————

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

人 火

Person, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

碓 牀 房

Pestle, Bed, Edifice