China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-15

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

I'm on the road; this calendar will be updated on Thursday 3/14!

(A placeholder picture; to be updated soon)

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 calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar 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. 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. 

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.

(Color copy by Thursday) 

 

Section One
Solar Calendar Date

十

五

五期星

Third month, fifteenth day

Astral Period Five

(Friday, March 15) 

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Section Two

Beneficent Stars

月吉

空期

Auspicious Period

Lunar Void

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Section Three
Auspicious Hours
申辰子

中吉凶

酉己丑

凶吉吉

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00  Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.

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Section Four
Activities to Avoid 

忌
行結

喪綱

Binding Nets

Mourning Visits 

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
初

四

庚

辰

金
鬼

除

Fourth Day (second lunar month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Ghost (23/28)

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

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information)

宜

出

行

理

髮

掃

舍

————————————
鷹
化
為
鳩
———————————— 
三長

喪星

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)

Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms

 
Hawks Become Doves
(the ninth of seventy-two solar "micro-periods" of five days each)
 
Miscellaneous Information

Long Star

Three Mournings

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 Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 火
Bifurcation, Fire

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Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
栖 磨

Pestle

Perch, Mortar