China's Lunar Calendar 2013 11-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT December 2.........................................................................................November 25 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
七
三期星

  Eleventh Month, Twenty-seventh Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, November 27

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

十生時
靈氣陰

Timely Yin
Engendered Vapor
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

中中中

酉己丑

吉凶吉
戌午寅

中吉中

亥未卯

凶吉凶

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

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

伐整理
木甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Felling Timber

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
五
丁
酉
火
軫
開

Twenty-fifth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Running Board (28/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜

上移祭
樑居祀
安掃祈
牀舍福
作開入
灶市學
入動出
倉土行
降下氣地藤上氣天
天班五
火煞離

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Moving Residences
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Entering Granaries

Heaven's Essence Rises; Earth's Essence Falls
(the fifty-ninth of seventy-two five-day mini-periods in the solar calendar) 

Miscellaneous Information  

Five Separations
Classified Balefulness 
Heavenly Conflagration

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 林
White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

門
庫 倉

Gate
Storehouse, Granary