China's Lunar Calendar 2014 04-10

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
十
日

四期星

Fourth Month, Tenth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, April 10

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十德歲
靈日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

中中凶

凶凶吉
戌午寅
凶吉吉

亥未卯

中吉吉

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

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 Inauspicious
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
嫁造合
娶酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Marriage Alliances

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
辛
亥
金
井
危

Eleventh Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Well (22/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

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

————
宜

捕納會
捉財友
取補安
魚垣牀
牧塞沐
養穴浴
納栽掃
畜種舍
鴽為化鼠田
天游重
賊禍日 

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends
Positioning Beds
Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Rooms
Cash Outflow
Patching Walls
Plugging-up Caves
Planting and Cultivating
Seizing and Apprehending
Garnering Fish
Tending Herds
Livestock Payments

Moles Become Quails
(the fourteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

Doubled Days
Natotorial Calamity
Heavenly Thief

 Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 林
White, Copse
————

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

Kitchen
Bed, Stove