China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT October 8.............................October 5  Lunar Calendar Information 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) 
八
日
二期星

  Tenth Month, Eighth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, October 8

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉母麒
宇倉麟

Unicorn
Maternal Granary
Jade Universe

—————————————————

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

中中中

酉己丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

凶吉凶

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

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

裁整理
衣甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Putting-together Clothing

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
四
丁
未
水
尾

收

Fourth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Tail (6/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" is repeated (for various calendrical reasons).

————————————————— 

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

露寒
五十巳
十時正
八        
分        
宜

捕

捉

田

獵

賓來雁鴻

月五長
刑虛星

Cold Dew
In the si hour (10:58 a.m.)
(The seventeenth of twenty-four, fifteen-day, periods in the solar calendar)

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Alliances
Seizing and Capturing
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Wild Geese Arrive as Guests
(The forty-ninth of seventy-two, five-day, micro-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Long Star

Water Scar

Classified Balefulness

Yin General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

丫 州
Bifurcation, Continents
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

倉

厠 庫

Granary

Toilet, Storehouse