China's Lunar Calendar 2014 04-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT April 11 ........................................................................................................April 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
五
日

六期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, April 5

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月時四
空德相

Four Facings
Temporal Virtue
Lunar Vacancy

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

吉凶凶

酉己丑
吉吉中
戌午寅
凶吉中

亥未卯

吉中中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
苫作修
蓋灶廚

Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Roof Thatching

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
六
丙

午
水
胃
滿

Sixth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Stomach (17/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)*
*Every few weeks, a "day cycle" repeats, as today.

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

————
 明清
七四四寅
分十時正

————
 宜
化移祭
靈柩祀
安成嫁
葬福婚
華始桐
天灾反
刑煞支

Qingming (Pure Bright)
Begins at the yin hour; 4:47 AM
(The fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Engagements
Moving Encoffined-corpses
Completing Clothing
Transforming Spirits
Positioning Graves

Paulownia Blooms
(the thirteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

Backlash Branch
Baleful Disaster
Heavenly Punishment

————

 Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 水
White, Water
————

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

Kitchen

Pestle, Stove