China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-25

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
五

日期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, May 25

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合天歲
日德馬

Generational Horse
Heavenly Virtue
Linked Days

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

酉己丑

吉吉吉
戌午寅
吉中凶

亥未卯

凶吉中

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

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

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

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

忌
除安作
服牀灶

Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Discarding Clothing

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
七
丙
申
火
虛
平

Twenty-Seventh Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Void (11/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (412)

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

宜
動嫁會
土娶友
上移出
樑徙行
開理訂
倉髮婚
納修納
畜造采
日復
重債下
喪不兀

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Opening Granaries
Livestock Payments

Repeated Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Debt Not
Repeat Mourning

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  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 天
Bifurcation, Heaven
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(right to left) 
廚

爐 灶
Kitchen
Furnace, Stove
————