China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 05-02

 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)

二

日

四期星

Fifth Month, Second Day

Thursday, May 2

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生陽歲歲

氣德馬祿

Generational Emolument

Generational Equinity

Yang Exemplarity

Engendered Vapor

————

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

凶凶吉

酉巳乙

吉中中

戌午寅

凶吉中

亥未卯

中中吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 In-Between

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

祈祭作修

福祀灶厨

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

四

丙

寅

火

角

開

Twenty-Fourth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Horn (1/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

動開納入

土市采學

上立裁會

樑約衣友

安交移出

牀易徙行

置修醫訂

產造病婚

對厭

血招小

 忌搖亡空

Appropriate Activities

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

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Setting-up Production

Mutual Repression

Baleful Asterisms

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

Small Loss-Void

Rollicking Braggadocio

Blood Taboo

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

白 火

White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

爐 灶 厨

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen