China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-23

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
三
一期星

  Ninth Month, Twenty-second Day

Astral Period One
Monday, September 23

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不六母四
將合倉相

Four Facings
Maternal Granary
Six Unities
Not General

—————————————————

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

凶中中

酉己丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

凶中凶

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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

合裁放開
帳衣水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Cutting-out Clothing
Binding Sails

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
九
壬
辰
水
畢
危

Nineteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Net (19/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

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

分秋
四四寅
十時正
四        
分        
宜
上移出祭
樑徙行祀
安動嫁入
葬土娶學
聲收始雷
月四債短
虛擊不星

Autumn Equinox
In the yin hour. 4:44 AM

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Moving Soils

Erecting Beams

Positioning Beams

Thunder Pipes Down
(The forty-sixth of seventy-two fifteen-day micro-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information 
Brief Star
Debt Not
Four Pugilisms
Lunar Void

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

百 火 
White, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)
栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary
————