China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT May 12........................................................................................................May 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
六
日

二期星

Fifth Month, Sixth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, May 6

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

三天天臨
合醫喜日

Neighboring Days
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Three Linkages

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

酉己丑

吉吉中
戌午寅
中吉中

亥未卯

凶凶凶

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 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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.

————————————————— 

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

忌
取移整理
魚徙甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Moving Households
Garnering Fish

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
八
丁
丑
水
觜
成

Eighth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Beak of the Turtle (21/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)*
*Occasionally, the calendar will repeat a jianchu cycle day, as today.

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

宜
堤修采入
安造裁學
牀動衣會
作土醫友
灶上病出
納樑開行
畜修市訂
安倉交婚
葬築易納

歸招厭四
忌搖對擊

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Patterning Clothing
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Constructing Dikes
 Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fisticuffs
Mutual Recrimination
Rollicking Braggadocio
Return Taboo

————

 Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 山
White, Mountain
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary