China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 07-19

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/25.....................................................................................................................................................7/18

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

九

五期星

Seventh Month, Nineteenth Day

Friday, July 19

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)t

不月天歲

將德德德

Generational Exemplarity

Heavenly Exemplarity

Lunar Exemplarity

Not General

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

吉吉凶

戌午寅

凶凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00  Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Inauspicious

 03:00-05:00 Inauspicious

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

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

田安出開

獵牀財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Positioning Beds

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

———

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

四

甲

申

水

鬼

除

Fourteenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Ghost (23/28)

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

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

上移訂祭

樑徙婚祀

安開納祈

門市采福

作修嫁入

灶造娶學

安動裁會

葬土衣友

虛五

劫月伏暗

煞忌斷金

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

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

Dark Metal

Prostrate Severance

Lunar Taboo

Plundered Balefulness

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

丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination