China's Lunar Calendar 2014 03-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT March 5..........................................March 1.............................Monthly 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
一三

日月
六期星

Third Month, First Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, March 1

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉六歲
堂合支

Generational Virtue
Six Linkages
Jade Palace

—————————————————

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

凶中凶

酉己丑
凶吉凶 
戌午寅
中吉吉

亥未卯

中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
進新合
水船醬

Mixing Sauces
New Boats
Entering Water

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
一
辛
未
土
女
執

First Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Soil

Constellation: Woman (10/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

宜
上嫁祭
樑娶祀
安納祈
牀采福
栽移會
種徙友
安動出
葬土行
葬土行
陽小水
將耗痕

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Moving Soil
Setting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Grasses and Trees Sprout
(the sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods in the Chinese agricultural calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

 Water Scar
Small Squander
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 山
White, Mountain
————

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

Kitchen
Toilet, Stove