China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 07-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/9........................................................7/6..............................................Monthly Calendar Informationa

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

六期星

Seventh Month, Sixth Day

Saturday, July 6

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六吉守合月

合期日日德

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Protected Days

Auspicious Time-Slice

Six Linkages

————

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

吉中凶

酉巳乙

凶吉凶

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

中中吉

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 Inauspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

行成除造合

喪服靈酒醬

Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

———

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

一

辛

未

土

女

除

First Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Maiden (10/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

署小

二廿亥

十二正

 分時    

宜

安動移出祭

牀土徙行祀

安上開嫁會

葬樑市娶友

至風溫

孤勾三大下

  辰陳喪亡空兀

Lesser Heat

Precisely at the hai hour; 22:20 o'clock

(the eleventh of twenty-four five-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

 

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Positioning Graves

Hot Winds Arrive

(the thirty-first 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

Great Loss-Void

Three Mournings

Narrative Hook

Orphan Hostel

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)

厠 灶 厨

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen