Auspicious Dates And Their Importance in China

In the west, apart from holidays and special occasions we don’t really associate extra meaning to specific dates. Chinese select auspicious days for the important events in their life. When you use a calendar, it’s purpose is just to set the passing time, but in China, especially in traditional Chinese culture, it’s so much more than that.

You might remember from previous articles that certain numbers in China have negative connotations, like the number 4 which sounds similar to death!

Numbers like this are avoided, so much so that apartments on the 4th floor of a building will be cheaper as people are worried about the negativity it can bring them. For some buildings, there is no fourth floor at all. Apparently, nobody wants to live or work on a floor of “death”.

But on top of this, people also use the lunar calendar to check not only for auspicious dates but what dates it’s best to do something! You can do this online with a quick search by yourself by searching for lunar dates, or by consulting the lunar calendar almanac. If you really want to be hardcore then you can book a consultation with a monk, temple official, or even a famous fortune teller, all of whom may give you dates in regards to your event.

You might find yourself laughing, there’s no way people take this seriously you might say! But it is, it’s taken very seriously. Believers will visit fortune tellers for even small things such as when to move home or when they should buy new clothes. Fortune tellers will be so specific that they will not only give you a specific date but hone it down to a specific hour and minute. Because of this many women choose to have C-sections just so they can have their baby on an auspicious day set out by the lunar calendar. You will read about three most popular clothes or clothing styles in China that are still worn by Chinese people today, including the polemic qipao.

I’ll say don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, the lunar calendar is not just based on the five elements that our universe is composed of but also has a foundation in natural sciences. Have a look online for auspicious dates and your luck might just turn.

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