China's Lunar Calendar 2013 12-02

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) 
二
日
一期星

  Twelfth Month, Second Day

Astral Period One
Monday, December 2

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

不十時
將靈德

Timely Virtue
Ten Spirits
Not General

—————————————————

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

凶中中

酉己丑

中凶吉
戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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

祭放開
祀水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Venerating Ancestors

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

三
十
壬
寅
金
心
平

Thirtieth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Heart (5/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Even (4/12)

————————————————— 

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

宜

上移會
樑徙友
醞開出
釀市行
平修嫁
道造娶
納動納
畜土采
冬成塞閉
虎重水
口喪痕

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Leveling Roads
Livestock Payments

Winter Begins to Take Hold
(the sixtieth of seventy-two five-day mini-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Water Scar
Doubled Mourning
Tiger Mouth

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 鬼
White, Ghost
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

倉
爐 庫 

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse