China's Lunar Calendar 2013 04-04

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

From right to left: 

LEFT April 9............................................April 2 RIGHT

2-9 April 2013

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.

Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left)  
四
日

四期星

Fourth month, fourth day

Astral Period Four

Thursday, April 4

———————————————— 
Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

不陽歲

將德祿

Generational Emolument

Yang Virtue

Not General

—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子

吉中凶

酉己丑

凶中吉

戌午寅

凶凶中

亥未卯

凶吉中

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

07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00  Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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.

————————————————— 

Section Four
Activities to Avoid 
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌

作修結

灶廚綱

Binding Nets

Kitchen Repairs

Stove Work 

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四

庚
子

土
奎

收

Twenty-fourth Day (second lunar month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Astride (15/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Acceptance (10/12)

————————————————— 

Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information)
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

––––––––––––––––––––––––

明清

零廿子

  二三        

分時初

––––––––––––––––––––––––

 宜
納沐嫁

財浴娶

補交理

捉易髮

––––––––––––––––––––––––

華始桐

––––––––––––––––––––––––

上班火

兀煞星 

Qingming
(the fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day periods to mark the solar year)
Beginning of the zi hour (23:02)

 Appropriate Activities

Marriage Alliances

Patterning Hair

Bathing

Trade and Commerce

Financial Outlays

Seizing and Apprehending 

Paulownia Blooms
(the thirteenth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods to mark the solar year) 

Miscellaneous Information
Fire Star

Communal Balefulness

Upper Amputee

 ————————————————— 

 Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(right to left)
白 天
White, heaven

————————————————— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left) 
占

磨 碓
Divination
Mortar, Pestle