China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 08-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/15..........................................................................................................................................................8/8

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

二期星

Eighth Month Eighth Day

Tuesday, August 8

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陽六歲歲

德合支德

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Branch

Six Linkages

Yang Exemplarity

————

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

吉凶中

酉巳丑

凶中凶

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Inauspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

行成置買

喪服業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

二

戊

辰

木

室

滿

Twenty-Second Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuchen (35/60)

Phase (element): Wood

"Constellation Personality: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)*

*Occasionally a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

秋立

二二丑

十時正

三       

分       

宜

動移嫁會

土徙娶友

安開納出

葬市采行

致風涼

三厭犬下

喪對口兀

Autumn's Establishment

(Beginning of Autumn)

Precisely at the zheng hour; 2:23 o'clock

(the thirteenth of twenty-four five-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Positioning Beds

Cool Winds Arrive

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

This is the halfway point in the solar year, people.

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee

Canine Orifice

Mutual Repression

Three Mournings

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

人 水

Person, Water

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

栖 牀 房

Perch, Bed, Edifice