China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/28..................................................................        ...................................................5/21

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
廿
一

三期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-First Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, May 21

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陽時
德德

Timely Virtue
Yang Virtue

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

酉己丑

吉吉吉
戌午寅
凶中吉

亥未卯

凶中吉

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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.

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

忌
放開
水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
三
壬
辰
木
箕
閉

Twenty-Third Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Winnowing Basket (7/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

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

小滿
五巳
十正
九十
分時
————
宜
獵田
————
苦
菜
秀
————
火水
星痕

Grain Full
(the seventh of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Field Venery

Bitter Herbs Grow Tall
(the twenty-second of seventy-two five-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Fire Star

————

  Section Seven

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

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(right to left) 
倉
栖 庫
Granary
Perch, Storehouse
————