China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 03-12

 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)

十

二

日期星

Third Month, Twelfth Day

Saturday, March 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合月歲

日德馬

Generational Equinity

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

————

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

吉中吉

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶中吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

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 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

除動遠

服土行

Distant Journeys

Moving Soil

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

一

己

巳

木

房

滿

Twenty-First Day; Second Lunar Month

Cyclical Day: jisi (6/60)

Phase (element): Wood

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness  (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

上訂祭

樑婚祀

開納祈

倉采福

作裁入

灶衣學

納開會

畜市友

符土

朱五重

雀虛日

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Opening Markets

Raising Beams

Opening Granaries

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Soil Charm

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days

Five Voids

Vermilion Bird

————

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

人 山

Person, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

占

牀 門

Divination

Bed, Gate