China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 08-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/2.....................................................................................................................................8/26

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

八

三期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Wednesday, August 28

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進民時歲

神日德德

Generational Exemplarity

Timely Exemplarity

Peopled Days

Entering Spirits

————

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

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

中中吉

戌午寅

凶凶凶

亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Inauspicious

 05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  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 In-Between

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

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

忌

行成出開

喪服財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

五

甲

子

金

箕

定

Twenty-Fifth (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiazi (1/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Winnowing Basket (7/28)

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

————

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

牀市采福

醞交嫁會

釀易娶友

納動裁出

畜土衣行

肅始地天

陽復死

將喪氣

Appropriate Activities

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

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beams

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Heaven and Earth Become Stern

(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

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

Death Vapor

Return Mourning

Yang General

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

白

White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

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

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

碓 門 占

Pestle, Gate, Divination