China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 04-30

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/7............................................................................................................................................................4/30

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

Fourth Month, Thirtieth Day

Tuesday, April 30

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不進天歲

將神喜德

Generational Exemplarity

Heavenly Happiness

Entering Spirits

Not General

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

中中吉

戌午寅

凶凶吉

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

動問出開

土卜財倉

Opening Granaries

Cash Outflow

Divinatory Inquiries

Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

二

甲

子

金

翌

成

Twenty-Second Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiazi (1/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Wings (27/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

作交出祭

灶易行祀

醞竪裁祈

釀柱衣福

納上醫入

畜樑病學

安安開會

葬牀市友

桑於降勝戴

歸地班下

忌囊煞兀

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Hoopoe Alights in Mulberry

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

Baleful Asterisms

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

Lower Amputee

Classified Balefulness

Earth Duffel (Dirt Bag)

Return Taboo

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

人 地

Person, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

碓 門 占

Pestle, Gate, Divination