China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 10-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/18..............................................................................10.15..............................................................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

七

二期星

Tenth Month, Seventeenth Day

Tuesday, October 17

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天德歲歲

赦日支德

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Branch

Exemplary Days

Heavenly Amnesty

————

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

吉凶中

酉巳丑

凶吉吉

戌午寅

中中凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 In-Between

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Inauspicious

5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 Inauspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

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

除安置買

服牀業田

Purchasing Land

Setting-up Industry

Positioning Beds

Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

三

戊

申

土

翌

開

Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

動理出祭

土髮行祀

上醫嫁祈

樑病娶福

修開納入

倉市采學

納修移會

畜造徙友

星長

復火反水

喪星支痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

Long Star

Baleful Asterisms

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

Water Scar

Opposèd Branch

Return Mourning

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)

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice