China's Lunar Calendar 2014 01-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT January 30................................................................................................January 23 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
五
六期星

 First Month, Twenty-fifth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, January 25

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除五六歲
神富合支

Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Five Abundances
Expelling Spirits

—————————————————

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

吉凶吉

酉己丑
吉吉吉

戌午寅

吉中凶

亥未卯

凶凶中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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

栽安作修
種牀灶廚
Kitchen Repairs

Stove Work

Positioning Beds

Planting and Cultivating

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
五
丙
申
火
氐
危

Twenty-fifth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Foundation (3/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
開修掃祭
倉造舍祀
栽動移祈
種土徙福
納上開出
畜樑市行
安醞交理
葬釀易髮
疾萬鳥征

陽短無五
將星祿離
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Fermenting Alcoholic-beverages
Opening Granaries
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Vultures Fly Swiftly and Sternly*
(the seventy-first of seventy-two five-day micro-periods of the solar year).
*Please note that the characters used here are different from common usage, 
which is usually 鷙鳥厲疾; I have stayed with the traditional translation). 

Miscellaneous Information

 Five Separations
Without Emolument
Short Star
Yang General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 火
White, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen