China's Lunar Calendar 2014 02-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT February 12...........................................................................................February 4 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) 
九
日
日期星

 Second Month, Ninth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, February 9

———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十德歲
靈日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

凶中凶

酉己丑
凶凶吉

戌午寅

吉吉吉

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between

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

嫁造合
娶酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Marriage Alliances

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
十
辛
亥
金
昂
收

Tenth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)

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

————————————————— 

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

宜

動納祭
土采祀
上裁祈
樑衣福
修移會
倉徙友
納修出
畜造行
振始蟲鷙
重債上
日不兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments

Dormant Creatures Twitch
(the second of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

 Upper Amputee
Debt Not
Doubled Days

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

人 州
Person, Landmass
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
廚

牀 灶

Kitchen
Bed, Stove