China's Lunar Calendar 2013 07-07

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) 
七
日

日期星

Seventh Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, July 7

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Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

天德歲
德日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Heavenly Virtue

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

中凶凶

酉己丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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

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

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

動出開
土財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Moving Soil

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

三
十
甲
戌
火

星
平

Thirtieth Day (fifth lunar month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Asterism (25/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Even (4/12)*
(Once in a while, the calendar repeats a personality; 
this is the same as yesterday)

————————————————— 

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

—————————
 暑小
卅六卯
四時正
分        
—————————
宜
修蓋祭

飾屋祀

垣作嫁

墻灶娶

—————————

至風溫 
 —————————
河土水
魁符痕

Small Heat
At the mao hour: 6:34 p.m.
(the eleventh of twenty-four fifteen-day breaks in the solar calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Alliances
Roofing Rooms
Stove Work
Repairing and Adorning Embankments and Walls 

Warm Winds Arrive
(the thirty-first of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar) 

Miscellaneous Information    

Water Scar
Earth Charm
River Chieftain

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

(right to left)
白 鬼 
White, Ghost

—————————————————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left)
門
栖 碓

Gate
Perch, Pestle