China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT October 4........................................................................................September 26 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
四期星

  Tenth Month, Third Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, October 3

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

十解四
靈神相

Four Facings
Unleashing Spirits
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

凶中中

酉己丑

中中吉

戌午寅

吉中吉

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 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 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

祭放開
祀水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Venerating Ancestors

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
九
壬
寅
金
角
執

Twenty-ninth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Horn (1/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜
栽建入
種屋學
納安會
畜門友
修作出
墳灶行
安捕理
葬捉髮

涸始水
歸劫小
忌煞耗

Appropriate Activities  

Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Making-up Rooms
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Seizing and Capturing
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Repairing Gravesites
Positioning Graves

Waters Dry Up
(the forty-eighth of seventy-two fifteen-day periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Small Squander
Plundered Balefulness
Return Taboo

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 地
White, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

倉
爐 庫

Granary

Furnace, Storehouse