China's Lunar Calendar 2014 11-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/13......................................................................................................................11/6

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
七
日
五期星

Eleventh Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, November 7

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月天天
將空醫喜

Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Vacancy
Not General

—————————————————

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

中吉吉

戌午寅
中中吉
亥未卯

吉吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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
塔苫放開
厠蓋水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets

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

十
五
壬

午
木

牛
成

Fifteenth Day (Intercalary Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Ox (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

—————————————————  

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

冬立
零二戌
七十正
分時    
————
宜
動移嫁祭
土徙娶祀
安開納出
葬市采行
————
冰始水
————
天班刀
刑煞砧

————
Beginning of Winter
Right at the xu hour—12:07 AM
(the nineteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Sluices
Moving Soil
Positioning Graves

Water Begins to Freeze
(the fifty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Sword Anvil
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Punishment

———— 
 

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 水
Bifurcation, Water
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary