China's Lunar Calendar 2013 12-22

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT December 22............................................................................................December 15 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
二
日期星

  Twelfth Month, Twenty-second Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, December 22

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生月德歲
氣德日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor

—————————————————

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

凶凶中

酉己丑

中吉中
戌午寅

吉凶吉

亥未卯

凶吉吉

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

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

塞補放開
穴垣水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Patching Embankments
Stopping-up Caves

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

二
十
壬
戌
水
星
開

Twentieth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renxu (59/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Asterism (25/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜

節冬
至冬
十一丑
一時初
分        
祀
動開訂祭
土市婚祀
結蚓蚯 
九天五大
空刑虛亡空

Winter Festival
Winter Solstice
At the beginning of the chou hour; 1:11 a.m.
(the twenty-second of twenty-four fifteen-day periods in the solar calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Engagements
Opening Markets
Moving Soil

Earthworms Twist
(the sixty-fourth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Great Loss-Void
Five Vacancies
Heavenly Punishment
Nine Voids

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

人 火
Person, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

栖 庫 倉

Granary, Storehouse, Perch