China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 03-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/23..........................................................................................................................................3/15

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

五

五期星

Third Month, Fifteenth Day

Friday, March 15

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天歲歲

赦馬祿

Generational Emolument

Generational Equinity

Heavenly Amnesty

————

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

凶吉中

酉巳乙

凶吉吉

戌午寅

凶中凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 In-Between

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Inauspicious

 05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

祈祭置

福祀產

Setting-up Industry

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

六

戊

寅

土

牛

閉

Sixth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: wuyin (15/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Oxen (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

社春

宜

栽交裁

種易衣

納上築

畜樑堤

安醞修

葬囊倉

鳩為化應

陰歸血

將忌忌

Spring Celebration

(a spring festival going back to ancient times)

Appropriate Activities

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

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Constructing Dikes

Repairing Granaries

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Fermenting Beverages

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Hawks Transform into Doves

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

Baleful Asterisms

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

Blood Taboo

Return Taboo

Yin General

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

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

房

爐 牀

Edifice

Furnace, Bed