China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 01-30

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

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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)

三

十

二期星

First Month, Thirtieth Day

Tuesday, January 30

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲合歲

馬日德

Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Generational Equinity

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

吉中中

亥未卯

凶凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 In-Between

3:00-5:00 In-Between

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious

9:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

除遠詞

服行訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Distant Journeys

Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二

十

癸

巳

水

觜

定

Twentieth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guisi (30/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

動移會

土居友

上立訂

樑約婚

作交納

灶易采

納修裁

畜造衣

堅腹澤水

死上重

氣兀日

Appropriate Activities

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

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Households

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Streams and Marshes Frozen Solid

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

Baleful Asterisms

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

Doubled Days

Upper Amputee

Death Vapor

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

白 林

White, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

占

牀 房

Divination

Bed, Edifice