China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 03-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/13.........................................................................................................................................................3/6

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)

八

日

三期星

Third Month, Eighth Day

Wednesday, March 8

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不生時天

將氣陽貴

Heavenly Nobility

Timely Yang

Engendered Vapor

Not General

————

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

吉中吉

酉巳丑

凶凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

行成除栽

喪服靈種

Planting and Cultivating

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

乙

丑

金

軫

開

Seventeenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28//28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

上移出祭

樑徙行祀

置醫訂祈

產病婚福

安修嫁入

牀造娶學

納動裁會

畜土衣友

虛五

復重小水

  日喪亡空痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Setting-up Production

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar

Small Loss-Void

Doubled Mourning

Repeated Days

————

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

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

厠 磨 碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle