The twelve day officers
Traditional almanacs label every day with one of twelve officers — Jian, Chu, Man, Ping, Ding, Zhi, Po, Wei, Cheng, Shou, Kai, Bi — and each carries a settled list of what the day is good for and what it is not. The sequence is not decorative: the officer is generated by counting the day branch forward from the month branch, so the twelfth day after a Jian day is a Jian day again.
| Officer | Class | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 建 Establish | Black road | beginnings, but not breaking ground |
| 除 Remove | Yellow road | clearing out, settling accounts, seeking treatment |
| 滿 Full | Black road | offerings and alliances; not burial |
| 平 Level | Black road | ordinary repairs; no major moves |
| 定 Settle | Yellow road | contracts, negotiation, setting up a bed |
| 執 Hold | Yellow road | building and securing; not moving house |
| 破 Break | Black road | demolition and treatment only |
| 危 Danger | Yellow road | rituals; avoid heights and long journeys |
| 成 Complete | Usable | opening, marriage, signing |
| 收 Harvest | Black road | collecting debts and crops; not opening |
| 開 Open | Usable | opening, taking office, breaking ground |
| 閉 Close | Black road | walls and defences; not openings |
The yellow-road / black-road split is the classical shortcut: Chu, Wei, Ding and Zhi count as yellow road (auspicious); Cheng and Kai are usable; the rest are black road. It is a coarse filter — traditional practice always checks the specific activity, not just the colour.
Clash and direction
The day branch clashes with the branch directly opposite it, six positions away in the twelve-branch cycle — so a Zi day clashes with Wu (Rat against Horse). The direction to avoid comes from the day branch’s three-harmony group: Shen-Zi-Chen avoid the south, Hai-Mao-Wei the west, Yin-Wu-Xu the north, Si-You-Chou the east.
Pengzu taboos
Ten couplets for the ten stems and twelve for the twelve branches — “on a Jia day do not open the storehouse”, “on a Zi day do not consult divination”. They are folk sayings attached to the calendar around a thousand years ago, and this page presents them as such.
What is on this page, and what is not
Included: what suits and what to avoid for the day, the twelve day deities that decide yellow road versus black road, the Jianchu officer, the clash and the direction to avoid, the 28-mansion cycle, the three directional spirits, the Pengzu couplets, the fetal-deity position, and hour-by-hour guidance.
Still missing, on purpose:
- Date selection (for one person) — choosing a date for a wedding or a move also weighs the applicant's own chart, the activity and regional convention. That is a service, not a formula — the date-selection tool deliberately does the weaker version and says so.
- The 28-mansion poems — the classical verses attached to each mansion are long, ornate and easy to mistranslate, so only the mansion's name and tone are shown.
Questions people ask
Where does this almanac come from?
It is computed for the date you are reading, from the traditional day officer cycle, the day's branch and its clash, the direction of the day's deity, and the auspicious hour ranges. It is not a table of quotes copied from a book.
What is a day officer?
One of twelve officers that cycle day by day — Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destroy, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Hold. Each is traditionally suited to some activities and not others, and today's officer is printed at the top of the result.
What does the clash line mean?
It names the animal whose branch directly opposes today's branch. Traditionally that is read as a day to be careful for people born under that animal, and as a poor day for matters needing that branch's support. It is a structural relation, not a warning about harm.
Should I plan my day around it?
That is a choice about culture, not a prediction. The almanac is best read as a traditional calendar with its own internal logic. Treating a “bad” day as a reason to cancel something important is not something this site recommends, and no page here will tell you to.