China's Lunar Calendar 2014 05-26

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
六

一期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, May 26

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不十天三
將靈貴合

Three Linkages
Heavenly Wealth
Ten Spirits
Not General

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

酉己丑

吉中吉
戌午寅
中吉中

亥未卯

凶吉凶

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

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

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
產修整理
室置甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Setting-up Factories
Repairing Rooms*
*The characters used in the third and fourth entries are clearly confused. I have tried to
 put them back together in a sense that is common in the calendar.

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
八
丁
酉
火
危
定

Twenty-Eighth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Danger (12/28)

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

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

宜
醞修裁出
釀造衣行
納動移訂
畜土徙婚
成上開納
服樑市采
安修交嫁
葬倉易娶
死草靡
四朱死五
祥不雀氣離 

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Waving Grasses Wither
(the twenty-third of seventy-two solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Death Vapor
Vermilion Bird
Four Fortune-Nots

————

  Section Seven

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

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(right to left)
庫 倉 門
 Storehouse, Granary, Gate
————