China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-21

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) 
廿
一
六期星

  Ninth Month, Twenty-first Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, September 21

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十月
靈德

Lunar Virtue
Ten Spirits

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

凶吉凶

酉己丑

中中吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

凶吉凶

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

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

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

祭結
祀綱

Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
庚
寅
木
胃
執

Seventeenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Stomach (17/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

宜
動入
土學
上出
樑行
成訂
服婚
安理
葬髮
水
痕
 歸小
忌耗

Appropriate Activities  

Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Patterning Hair
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Miscellaneous Information 
Small Squander
Return Taboo

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

丫 地
Bifurcation, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)
碓
爐 磨

Pestle
Furnace, Mortar
————