China's Lunar Calendar 2014 11-22

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/26......................................................11/22............Monthly Calendar 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
廿十
二一
    月
六期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Second Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, November 22

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十生時母
靈氣陽倉

Maternal Granary
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor
Ten Spirits

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

吉凶吉

戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯

吉吉凶

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
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
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 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
進新裁理
水船衣髮
Patterning Hair
Cutting-out Clothing
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
一
丁

酉
火

柳
開

First Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Willow (24/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

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

雪小
卅十酉
八七初
分時    
宜
安動移祭
牀土居祀
作上開出
灶樑市行
見不藏虹
灾水長上
煞痕星兀

————
Slight Snow
Begins in the you hour; 17:38
 (the twentieth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)
 

Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work

Rainbows Hide
(the fifty-eighth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee

Long Star

Water Scar

Disastrous Balefulness

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 林
White, Copse
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information
庫 倉 門
Storehouse, Granary, Gate