China's Lunar Calendar 2013 07-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT July 7.....................................................................................................June 30 RIGHT

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) 
五
日

五期星

Seventh Month, Fifth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, July 5

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Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

相六歲
日合支

Generational Branch
Six Unities
Facing Days

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

凶吉凶

酉己丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

中中凶

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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

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

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

安放開
牀水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Positioning Beds

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
八
壬
申
金

鬼
滿

Twenty-eighth Day (fifth lunar month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Ghost (23/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

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

 宜
上理祭
樑髮祀
補移祈
塞徙福
除開出
服市行
安動裁
葬土衣
虛五
陰無五
將祿離

Appropriate Activities   
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Plugging-up Caves
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Miscellaneous Information    

Five Separations
Without Emolument
Yin General

 —————————————————  
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

(right to left)
丫 地
Bifurcation, Earth

—————————————————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left)
倉
爐 庫

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse