China's Lunar Calendar 2013 11-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT November 16.........................................................................................November 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
五
五期星

  Eleventh Month, Fifteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, November 15

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生時天
恩氣陽德

Heavenly Virtue
Timely Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness

—————————————————

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

吉吉吉

酉己丑

吉凶吉

戌午寅
中中吉

亥未卯

凶中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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

塞補時栽
穴垣插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
三

乙
酉
水
婁
開

Thirteenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Mound (17/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜
動理訂祭
土髮婚祀
上開納祈
樑市采福
安交嫁入
牀易娶學
開修移出
渠造徙行
將俱 
天灾班大
火煞煞亡空

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Opening Sluices

Everything General

Miscellaneous Information  

Great Void-Loss
Classified Balefulness
Baleful Disaster
Heavenly Conflagration

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 林

White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

磨 碓 門

Mortar, Pestle, Gate