China's Lunar Calendar 2014 03-11

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
十

一
二期星

Third Month, Eleventh Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, March 11

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

聖驛
心馬

Post Horse
Sagely Heart

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

中中凶

酉己丑
凶吉吉
戌午寅
吉吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉中

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

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

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

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

忌
遠合
行醬

Mixing Sauces
Distant Journeys

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
辛
巳
金
觜
滿

Eleventh Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinsi (18/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)
*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
祭

祀

會

友

裁

衣

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 
倉
庚
鳴
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 
重債
日不

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Cutting-out Clothing

Golden Orioles Sing
(the eighth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods in the lunar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

 Debt Not
Doubled Days

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

人 山
Person, Mountain
————

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

Kitchen
Bed, Stove