China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 08-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/20.............................................................................8/16.............................................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)

十八

六月

三期星

Eighth Month Sixteenth Day

Wednesday, August 16

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

聖玉天

氣宇馬

Heavenly Equinity

Jade Expanse

Engendered Vapor

————

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

吉凶凶

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

吉吉凶

亥未卯

吉中中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00  Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

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

忌

苫作修

蓋灶厨

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Thatched Coverings

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

一

丙

午

水

參

開

First Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

修訂祭

造婚祀

動納祈

土采福

栽移入

種居學

成開出

服市行

痕水

灾楊上

煞忌兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Planting and Cultivating

Completing Clothing

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Upper Amputee

Poplar Taboo

Disastrous Balefulness

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

白 火

White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

厨

碓 灶

Kitchen

Pestle, Stove