China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT October 17..................................................................................................October 9 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
三
日期星

  Tenth Month, Thirteenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, October 13

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

時四歲
德相祿

Generational Emolument
Four Facings
Temporal Virtue

—————————————————

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

凶凶吉

酉己丑

中中吉

戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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

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

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

問放開
卜水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Asking-about-the Future

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
九
壬
子
木
虛

滿

Ninth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renzi (49/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Void (11/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

陽重
宜
入出祭
倉行祀
成理入
服髮學
安開會
葬市友
蛤為水大入雀

陽歸灾
將忌煞

Double Yang

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Entering Granaries
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Sparrows Enter the Water and Become Clams
(the fiftieth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Baleful Disaster
Return Taboo
Yang General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

人 地
Person, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

倉

碓 庫

Granary
Pestle, Storehouse