China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 06-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/25................................................................................................................................................5/29

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)

五

日

三期星

Sixth Month, Fifth Day

Wednesday, June 5

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天月三歲

馬的合支

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Lunar Exemplarity

Heavenly Equinity

————

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

吉中凶

酉巳乙

吉中吉

戌午寅

凶凶中

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  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 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

田問結經

獵卜網絡

Neural Pathways

Binding Nets

Divinatory Inquiries

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

———

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

九

庚

子

土

箕

危

Twenty-Ninth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Winnowing Basket (7/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

種芒

十十午

分二正

 時 

宜

安動嫁祭

牀土娶祀

安上移出

葬樑徙行

生螂螳

陰白天五

將虎吏虛

Grain in Ear

Precisely as the wu hour; 12:10 o'clock

(the ninth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Moving Soil 

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Positioning Graves

Mantids Hatch

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

Baleful Asterisms

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

Five Voids

Heavenly Official

White Tiger

Yin General

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)

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination