China's Lunar Calendar 2014 10-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/27......................................................10/24.............................Monthly Information

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

六期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, October 25

———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陰合歲
德日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Yin Virtue

—————————————————

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

中中凶

戌午寅
中吉吉
亥未卯

凶吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
成除遠
服靈行
Distant Journeys
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

—————————————————  
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初

二
己

巳
木

柳
危

Second Day (Intercalary Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (6/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Willow (24/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
動裁祭
土衣祀
田合訂
獵帳婚
結納納
綱財采
牧修嫁
養造娶
不債
重重上
喪日兀

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestor
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Making Banners
Tax Payments
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Field Venery
Binding Nets
Raising Livestock

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Doubled Days
 Repeat Mourning

————

  
Section Seven

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

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

占

牀 門

Divination
Bed, Gate