China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 09-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/6.....................................................................................................................................................................8/29

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)

六

日

三期星

Ninth Month, Sixth Day

Wednesday, September 6

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天合月

恩日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Heavenly Kindness

————

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

中中中

酉巳丑

凶中中

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

吉吉凶

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

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 In-Between

————

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

忌

開穿理

池井髮

Patterning Hair

Boring Wells

Entering Water

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

二

丁

卯

火

壁

危

Twenty-Second Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

交嫁祭

易娶祀

上納祈

樑采福

安移會

牀徙友

安立出

葬約行

星短

土朱五

符雀虛

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Positioning Graves

Short Star

Baleful Asterisms

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

Five Voids

Vermilion bird

Soil Charm

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

人 林

Person, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

門

庫 倉

Gate

Storehouse, Granary