China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 04-15

 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

五

六期星

Fourth Month, Fifteenth Day

Saturday, April 15

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

官合歲

日日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Official Days

————

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

中中吉

酉巳丑

凶中中

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

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 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

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

開穿詞

池井訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

五

癸

卯

金

女

閉

Twenty-Fifth Day

Cyclical Day: guimao (40/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

成塞祭

服穴祀

除安裁

服牀衣

修作合

墳灶帳

安塔補

葬厠垣

見始虹

月天血

害吏支

Appropriate Activities 

Venerating Ancestors

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Linking Sails

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Building Toilets

Completing Clothing

Discarding Clothing

Repairing Tombs

Positioning Graves

Rainbows Begin to Appear

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

Baleful Asterisms

Blood Branch

Heavenly Official

Lunar Harm

————

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

丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

房

門 牀

Edifice

Gate, Bed