May 3, 2026 Chinese Almanac — Ding Chou Day: Do Ancestral Rites, Blessing Prayers, Avoid Opening the Storehouse
Year Bing Wu · Month Ren Chen · Day Ding Chou · Lunar 3/17 · Jia Xu Xun · Void: Shen You
Today's Auspicious & Avoid
Do17 activities (click for this month's dates)
NoAvoid 3 activities
Directions
| Lucky | Northeast · North — favorable for travel, contracts and negotiations |
|---|---|
| Unlucky | South · Southwest — avoid for groundbreaking and bed placement |
Double Hours
| Lucky | Chou Hour (1-3) · Zi Hour (23-1) · You Hour (17-19) |
|---|---|
| Unlucky | Wei Hour (13-15) · Wu Hour (11-13) |
Five Elements Strength (Ren Chen month)
Today's Branch Relations
| Clash | Chou Wei Clash | Harmony | Chou Zi Harmony | Punish | Chou Xu Wei Punishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harm | Chou Wu Harm | Destroy | Chou Chen Destruction |
Ding Chou Day Analysis
Today is governed by Ding Chou, in the Jia Xu Xun, with the void falling on Shen You. The Chou branch (Earth) presides. Branch clash today: Chou Wei — matters tied to the clashed branch are better postponed. Harmony: Chou Zi — favorable for partnerships and alliances.
Date selection weighs the day's stems and branches, five-element interactions, branch relations and focus-line strength together. Lines falling on the void (Shen You) lose their timing — pick another day if your focus line sits there. Health, career, wealth and other areas each read differently: see the per-topic analysis below.
Date Selection by Topic
| Topic | Focus | Today's Status | Deep Dive | This Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health | Offspring / Officer | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Health → | This month → |
| Career | Officer / Parents | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Career → | This month → |
| Wealth | Wealth / Offspring | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Wealth → | This month → |
| Love | Officer / Wealth | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Love → | This month → |
| Travel | Self Line / Offspring | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Travel → | This month → |
| Feng Shui | Parents / Self Line | Zi · Water · Dead (Weakened) | Today's Feng Shui → | This month → |
Facing a hard decision? Cast an I Ching hexagram online, or browse the hexagram library for readings on similar questions.
Days This Month
Daily Focus
Today's Focus: General Dates
One in-depth topic hub recommended each day, rotating through every theme across the year.
- ← May 2 Yesterday's almanac
- May 4 → Tomorrow's almanac
- May 2026 Calendar Monthly overview
- Consecration · May 2026 Auspicious days this month
- Moving into a New Home · May 2026 Auspicious days this month
- Feng Shui Dates · May 2026 Day-by-day analysis this month
- Today's Feng Shui Deep Dive In-depth topic analysis
- Chou Earth Focus · 2026 Strong and weak months
- Wei Earth Focus · May Today Chou clashes Wei — when is it usable?
- June 2026 → Plan next month ahead
- Intentions Guide Trigram & six-god intention system