China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/20.....................................................................................................................5/13

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
四

三期星

Fifth Month, Fourteenth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, May 14

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不時合月
將陰日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Temporal Yin
Not General

—————————————————

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

酉己丑

吉凶吉
戌午寅
中中吉

亥未卯

凶中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
取田時栽
魚獵插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Field Venery
Garnering Fish

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
六
乙
酉
水
軫
定

Sixteenth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Running Board (28/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

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

宜
上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
修交納祈
倉易采福
成修移入
服造徙學
安動理出
葬土髮行
氣死
四朱五九
祥不雀離鬼土

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Pattering Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repair and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Nine Ghost-soils
Five Separations
Vermilion Bird
Four Fortune-nots

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicioous Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 林
Bifurcation, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
Compressed, with no information until 5/21

....Very strange, indeed...