China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 04-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/11........................................................................................................................................................4/3

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)

五

日

三期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day

Wednesday, April 5

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

相歲合歲

日馬日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Generational Equinity

Facing Days

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

凶中中

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00  Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

成除遠詞

服靈行訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Distant Journeys

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

五

癸

巳

水

軫

除

Fifteenth Day (Second Intercalary Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guisi (30/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)*

*Occasionally a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

明清

十九巳

三時初

分       

宜

安動案理

門土牀髮

作上修掃

灶樑造舍

華始桐

劫五瓜重

煞虛辰日

Qing Ming (Pure Brightness)

At the beginning of the si hour; 9:13 o'clock

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

Appropriate Activities 

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Sweeping Rooms

Positioning Beds

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Paulownia Blooms

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

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days

Orphan Dawn

Five Voids

Plundered Balefulness

————

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

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

牀 房 占

Bed, Edifice, Divination