China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 07-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/21.........................................................................................7/18....................................................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

二

十

四期星

Seventh Month, Twentieth Day

Thursday, July 20

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進天德天

神喜合月

Heavnely Lunarity

Exemplary Linkage

Heavenly Happiness

Entering Spirits

————

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

中中吉

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

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 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 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

除成開穿

服服池井

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Completing Clothing

Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

三

己

卯

土

井

成

Third Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

上移出祭

樑徙行祀

修開嫁祈

倉市娶福

裁修納入

種造采學

納動裁會

畜土衣友

忌楊

復重班水

日喪煞痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

 Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Moving Residences

 Repairing Granaries

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar

Classified Balefulness

Doubled Mourning

Returning Days

————

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

丫

Bifurcation

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination