China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 04-17

 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

七

一期星

Fourth Month, Seventeenth Day

Monday, April 17

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陰五歲

德富馬

Generational Equinity

Five Abundances

Yin Exemplarity

————

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

凶中中

亥未卯

凶中中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

除遠栽

服行種

Cutting-out Clothing

Distant Travels

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

七

乙

巳

火

危

除

Twenty-Seventh Day (Intercalary Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

安入沐

門宅浴

作開理

灶市髮

入竪掃

倉柱舍

塔上移

厠樑居

日重

陽劫五

將煞虛

Appropriate Activities 

Bubbling and Bathing

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Sweeping Rooms

Moving Households

Entering Mansions

Opening Markets

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Entering Granaries

Building Toilets

Doubled Days

Baleful Asterisms

Five Voids

Plundered Balefulness

Yang General

————

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)

碓

牀 磨

Pestle

Bed, Mortar