China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT September 4.......................................................................................................August 28 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) 
三
日
二期星

  Ninth Month, Third Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, September 3

———————————————— 
Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

月六歲
德合支

Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Lunar Virtue

—————————————————

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

凶吉吉

酉己丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

中中凶

亥未卯

凶吉吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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

動安開
土牀渠

Opening Sluices
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
八
壬
申
金
翌
建

Twenty-eighth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (09/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Wings (27/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————————————————— 

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

宜

開嫁祭
市娶祀
上納祈
樑采福
作移會
灶徙友
安理出
葬髮行
府土
月無小
  建祿亡空

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Putting-up Beams
Stove Work
Positioning Graves
 

Earth Palace

Miscellaneous Information

Small Loss-Void

Without Emolument

Lunar Establishment

————  

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

丫 鬼
Bifurcation, Ghost

—————————————————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left)
倉

爐 庫

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse