China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-20

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
二
十

二期星

Fifth Month, Twentieth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, May 20

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生詩天麒
氣陽德麟

Unicorn
Heavenly Virtue
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor

—————————————————

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

酉己丑

凶吉中
戌午寅
吉吉吉

亥未卯

凶中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
開穿造合
池井酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
二
辛
卯
木
尾
開

Twenty-Second Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Tail (6/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
動移出祭
土徙行祀
上開訂祈
樑市婚福
安交納入
牀易采學
置修嫁會
產造娶友
煞班
俱元天灾
將武火煞

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil 
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Setting-up Industry

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Baleful Disaster

Heavenly Conflagration

Primal Martiality

Everything General

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人 人
Person, Person
————

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

...Very strange, indeed...