China's Lunar Calendar 2014 01-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT January 5..................................January 1..........Monthly Calendar Information 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
日期星

 First Month, Second Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, January 2

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

合歲
日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days

—————————————————

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

吉吉吉

酉己丑

中吉吉
戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

凶凶凶

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

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

成詞
服訟
Litigation
Completing Clothing

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
二
癸
酉
金
斗
收

Second Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————————————————— 

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

宜

捕祭
捉祀
天沐
獵浴
開理
光髮
栽掃
種舍

重
喪

上火
兀星

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Bathing and Bubbling
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Capturing and Seizing
Field Venery
Opening Lighting
Planting and Cultivating

Double Days

Miscellaneous Information  

Fire Star
Upper Amputee

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 神
White, Spirit
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

房
門 牀

House
Gate, Bed