China's Lunar Calendar 2014 03-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT March 14.........................................................................................................March 6 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
七

日
五期星

Third Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, March 7

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月生
將恩氣

Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

中中凶

酉己丑
凶吉中
戌午寅
中吉中

亥未卯

吉凶凶

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

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

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

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.

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Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
進新理
水船髮

Patterning Hair
New Boats
Entering Water

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
七
丁
丑
水
婁
開

Seventh Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Tower (16/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
*A cyclical character in this jianchu pattern occasionally repeats, as it does today.

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

宜
動出祭
土行祀
上嫁祈
樑娶福
安納入
門裁學
置移會
產徙友
痕水
九五寡
空虛宿

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Doors
Setting-up Factories

Water Scar

Miscellaneous Information

 Orphaned Residence
Five Vacancies
Nine Voids

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 林
White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
倉
厠 庫

Granary
Toilet, Storehouse