China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT October 25..................................................................................................October 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
一期星

  Tenth Month, Twenty-first Day

Astral Period One
Monday, October 21

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月鳳六歲
恩凰合支

Generational Branch
Six Unities
Phoenix
Lunar Kindness

—————————————————

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

吉凶凶

酉己丑

中吉吉

戌午寅

凶吉凶

亥未卯

凶吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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

合栽安結
帳衣牀綱

Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Linking Banners

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
庚
申
木
畢

開

Seventeenth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Wood (19/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————————————————— 

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

宜

 上開理祭
樑市髮祀
作交掃祈
灶易舍福
開修移入
渠造徙學
穿動醫出
井土病行
星短
五招厭八
離搖對專

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Residences
Doctoring Illness
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Stove Work
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells

Short Star

Miscellaneous Information  

Eight Specialities
Lunar Facing
Rollicking Braggadocio
Five Separations

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白
White
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)
爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle