Date Selection: Find a Day That Is "Favorable," Then Avoid the One That Clashes with You
Open a Chinese almanac and every day comes packed with entries: "favorable," "avoid," "clash," "sha." Date selection (ze ri 擇日) boils down to three steps: find the days favorable for your occasion, drop the days that clash with the people involved, then pick a good hour. This page explains the rules behind each step, and lays out exactly how our date finder filters and what it leaves out.
Which boxes to read on an almanac day
The Chinese almanac, the Tong Shu (通書), known in Taiwan as the Farmer's Almanac (nong min li 農民曆), gives every day the same set of entries:
| Entry | What it means | How date selection uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Favorable (yi 宜) / Avoid (ji 忌) | The activities suited and unsuited to the day; the almanac's overall conclusion after weighing many auspicious and inauspicious stars | The main basis: look for days where your occasion is under "favorable" and not under "avoid" |
| Twelve Day Officers (jian chu 建除) | Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Hold, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open, Close, cycling every twelve days | A supporting factor; an old rhyme says Remove, Danger, Stable and Hold are yellow, and Success and Open are usable too |
| Yellow Path / Black Path (huang dao 黃道 / hei dao 黑道) | Twelve day spirits take turns on duty: six on the Yellow Path, six on the Black Path | A supporting factor; a Yellow Path day counts in a date's favor but is not required |
| Clash (chong 沖) | Which zodiac sign the day's Earthly Branch clashes with, for example "clashes Rat" | If someone involved has that sign, avoid the day for important events |
| Sha (煞) | The day's Three Killings direction (san sha), for example "sha North" | Avoid breaking ground or moving toward that direction on the day |
| Hours | Each of the day's twelve two-hour periods also has its own Yellow or Black Path spirit and its own clash | Once the day is chosen, pick an hour on the Yellow Path that does not clash with anyone involved |
For the details of day officers and Yellow and Black Path days, see day officers and Yellow Path days; for clashes and sha, see clash and sha.
How our date finder filters
- Almanac favorable and avoid lists: the day's "favorable" list includes your occasion (for a wedding, "marriage," jia qu 嫁娶), and its "avoid" list does not.
- Drop days marked "nothing favorable" (zhu shi bu yi 諸事不宜).
- No clash with the people involved: if the day clashes with your sign or your partner's, it is dropped.
- The 7th lunar month (optional): Taiwanese custom avoids Ghost Month for weddings, moves and openings. It is a folk custom, not an almanac rule, so it is an option you can switch off.
- Yellow Path days and good day officers only add points; they never rule a day out. The almanac's favorable and avoid lists already take them into account, so we do not count them twice.
How we counted: our date-selection rules applied to the 365 days from October 1, 2026. "Neither person clashed" is the average over every pair of different zodiac signs; each day clashes exactly one sign, which removes about a sixth of the days on average.
Days favorable for marriage are not actually rare: more than a third of the year. What is scarce is weekends. Once both people's signs and Ghost Month are taken out, a whole year leaves only around thirty weekend days on average, and in popular months you are competing with everyone else for venues. That is why it pays to start choosing a date months ahead.
Find a good date: pick the occasion, add zodiac signs, see dates and hours
We filter by the almanac's favorable and unfavorable activities, drop days that clash with the people involved, and list each day's Yellow Path hours. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Zodiac signs change at the Start of Spring (around February 4), so if you were born in January or early February your sign may belong to the previous year; check the year pillar with the free chart calculator if unsure. To avoid clashes for more family members, run the search again with their signs.
Where the data comes from
Our daily favorable and avoid lists, day officers, Yellow and Black Path spirits, clashes, sha directions and hour ratings come from the open-source calendar library lunar-javascript, with the terms rendered in the forms used in Taiwan and glossed here in English. We spot-checked against Taiwanese almanac websites, and for the same day the favorable and avoid lists, clashes, auspicious and inauspicious stars and Yellow Path hours all matched.
We should also be clear about what we do not include: BaZi compatibility between the couple, the bride's "greater and lesser favorable months" (da li yue 大利月, xiao li yue 小利月), the wedding "zhou tang" (嫁娶周堂) positions, and personal favorable elements. These belong to personalized date selection, where schools differ widely, and one set of rules cannot judge them for everyone. For an important occasion, use our finder to shortlist dates, then check them with a teacher you trust.
Three common misunderstandings
You cannot hold a wedding on a Black Path day.
The Black Path is only one of the day spirits that take turns on duty. Among the days favorable for marriage, Yellow Path days make up about 53.1%; nearly half of the rest are Black Path days, and the almanac still marks them favorable for marriage. We count the Yellow Path as a plus, not a requirement.
You must never marry or move in the 7th lunar month.
Avoiding Ghost Month is a Taiwanese folk custom; the almanac's own favorable and avoid lists contain no such rule, and the 7th month still has days favorable for marriage. Our finder avoids it by default, but you can switch that off. In 2027, the 7th lunar month runs from August 2 to 31, 2027.
Once you have a good day, the whole day is good.
Within one day there are still Yellow Path and Black Path hours, and hours that clash with the people involved. For the key moments (the bride leaving home, walking into the new home, cutting the ribbon), it is best to pick a good hour as well.
Read on
A straight word: a good date brings peace of mind, not responsibility for the outcome
Date selection is a custom that goes back more than a thousand years, and it can give an important day a sense of occasion and reassurance. But whether a marriage is happy, a move goes smoothly or a business does well comes down to people. Our favorable and unfavorable activities come from almanac calendar data, and different almanac traditions differ slightly. For a truly important occasion, treat our result as a first pass and, if you like, check it with a teacher you trust. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Beyond the date: are the two of you a good match?
A good date is about timing; compatibility is about the two people. Enter both birth dates to see, free, how your BaZi charts interact and what to keep in mind together.
Date selection FAQ
What do you look at when choosing an auspicious date?
Mainly the almanac's favorable and avoid lists: the day should be favorable for your occasion and not list it under "avoid." Then drop days that clash with the zodiac signs of the people involved, and finally pick an hour on the Yellow Path that does not clash with them. Day officers and Yellow or Black Path days are useful extras.
Does an auspicious day have to be a Yellow Path day?
Not necessarily. The Yellow or Black Path is just the day spirit on duty, and the almanac's favorable and avoid lists already take it into account. In our count of days favorable for marriage, about half are Yellow Path days and the other half are Black Path days that the almanac still marks favorable.
Can I marry or move during the 7th lunar month?
The almanac itself does not forbid it; the 7th month still has days favorable for marriage and for moving in. Avoiding Ghost Month is a Taiwanese folk custom. Whether it matters is your call; our finder avoids it by default, and you can switch that off.
How is your date finder different from a teacher choosing a date?
We filter by the almanac's favorable and avoid lists and zodiac clashes, with the rules in the open, which makes it a good first pass. A teacher will often also weigh both people's BaZi, the bride's favorable months, the wedding zhou tang and personal favorable elements, which is a personalized judgment.
How far ahead should I start choosing a date?
The earlier the better. For weddings, there are over a hundred days a year favorable for marriage, but after both signs and Ghost Month are taken out, only around thirty weekend days remain on average, and in popular months venues are often booked six months ahead.