China's Lunar Calendar 2014 03-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT March 21.........................................................................................................March 15 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

七
一期星

Third Month, Seventeenth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, March 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天德歲
恩喜日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Heavenly Happiness
Lunar Kindness

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

中中凶

酉己丑
凶凶吉
戌午寅
吉吉吉

亥未卯

吉吉凶

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

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 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
成除嫁理
服靈娶髮

Patterning Hair
Marriage Alliances
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
丁
亥
土
張
成

Seventeenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Drawn Bow (26/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)
*A cyclical character in this jianchu pattern occasionally repeats, as it does today.

————————————————— 

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

宜
上開出祭
樑市行祀
安交納祈
門易采福
作修移入
納動醫會
畜土病友
兀下
小元重水
亡空武日痕 

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Lower Amputee

Miscellaneous Information

 Water Scar
Doubled Days
Primal Martiality
Small Loss-void

Section Seven
(right to left)

Inauspicious Stars 
丫
BIfurcation
————

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

Bed, Storehouse, Granary