China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 07-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/8.......................................................................................................................................................7/1

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)

八

日

六期星

Seventh Month, Eighth Day

Saturday, July 8

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三母

醫喜合倉

Maternal Granary

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

————

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

中中中

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

吉吉凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌

開穿整理

池井甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Stying)

Trimming Nails

Boring Wells

Opening Irrigation Sluices

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

一

丁

卯

火

女

成

Twenty-First Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)*

*Occasionally a "Day Personality" Repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

上開嫁祭

樑市娶祀

安交納入

牀易采學

納修移會

畜造徙友

安東醫出

葬土病行

兀上

俱大班刀

將煞煞砧

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

 Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Asterisms

Sword Anvil

Classified Balefulness

Great Balefulness

Everything General

————

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

人

Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

庫 倉門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate