China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 05-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/20................................................................................................................................................5/13

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

六

四期星

Fifth Month, Sixteenth Day

Thursday, May 16

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時月

德德

Lunar Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

————

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

中吉凶

酉巳乙

中吉吉

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 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 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

裁結

衣網

Binding Nets

Cutting-out Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

九

庚

辰

金

奎

閉

Ninth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Astride (15/28)

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

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

交祭

易祀

動祈

土福

安出

牀行

安移

葬徙

長

星

血下

支兀

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Going Out (and about)

Moving Residences

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Positioning Beds

Positioning Graves

Long Star

Baleful Asterisms

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

Lower Amputee

Blood Branch

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

人 水

Person, Water

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

碓

栖 磨

Pestle

Perch, Mortar