China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT September 25........................................................................................September 18 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) 
十
八
三期星

  Ninth Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, September 18

———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

福歲
德馬

Generational Horse
Good-luck Virtue

—————————————————

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

中中中

酉己丑

吉凶吉

戌午寅

吉吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉凶

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

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

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

嫁理
娶髮

Patterning Hair
Marriage Alliances

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
四
丁
亥
土
壁
滿

Fourteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Wall (14/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜

祭

祀

掃

舍

____________________

群

鳥

養

羞 
____________________ 
 重歲
日破

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Sweeping Rooms

Flocks of Birds Gather Grain
(the forty-fifth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar) 

Miscellaneous Information

Generational Destruction
Repeated Days

————  

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白
White

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)
倉

牀 庫

Granary
Bed, Storehouse