China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 05-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

5/20...............................................................5/17...........................................Monthly Calendar Information

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)

二

十

三期星

Fifth Month, Twentieth Day

Wednesday, May 20

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進聖官天

神心日赦

Heavenly Amnesty

Official Days

Sagely Heart-Mind

Entering Spirits

————

Section Three

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

中中凶

酉巳乙

吉中吉

戌午寅

中凶吉

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 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

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

忌

塔苫出開

厠蓋財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Thatched Coverings

Building Toilets

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

四

甲

午

金

参

除

Fourth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiawu (31/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Gather (21/28)

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

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

宜

上理訂祭

樑髮婚祀

栽醫納祈

種病采福

除修嫁會

服造娶友

安動移出

葬土徙行

將陽

大大咸天

  敗時池廢休

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Planting and Cultivating

Discarding Mourning Clothing

Positioning Graves

Yang General

Baleful Asterisms

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

Heavenly Abandon-Rests

Widespread Pond

Great Timeliness

Great Defeat

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

丫

Bifurcation

————

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