China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 05-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/28................................................................................................................................................5/21

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)

廿

一

二期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-First Day

Tuesday, May 21

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲德德

合支日支

Generational Branch

Exemplary Days

Generational Brach

Six Linkages

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

吉凶吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

凶中凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

取田時栽

魚獵插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Injections

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

四

乙

酉

水

觜

定

Fourteenth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

動理訂祭

土髮婚祀

上開納祈

樑市采福

納交嫁入

畜易娶學

安修移出

葬造徙行

氣死

朱五九月

  雀禮鬼土忌

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Soil

Patterning Hair

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil 

Raising Beams

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Baleful Asterisms

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

Lunar Taboo

Nine Ghost-Soils

Five Separations

Vermilion Bird

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

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle