China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 04-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/19........................................................................................................................................................4/12

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

四

五期星

Fourth Month, Fourteenth Day

Friday, April 14

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十生月天

靈氣德德

Heavenly Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

Engendered Vapor

Ten Spirits

————

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

凶中中

酉巳丑

凶中吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

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 In-Between

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 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

祈祭放開

福祀水娶

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Putting-into Water

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

四

壬

寅

金

牛

開

Twenty-Fourth Day

Cyclical Day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

上開納入

樑市采學

安交嫁會

牀易娶友

作修裁出

灶造衣行

置動移訂

產圖徙婚

對厭

血招上九

 忌搖兀鬼土

Appropriate Activities 

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Setting-up Production

Mutual Repression

Baleful Asterisms

Nine Ghost- Officials

Upper Amputee

Rollicking Braggadocio

Blood Taboo

————

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

白 火

White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary