China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/4.........................................................................................................................11/27

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
二
日
二期星

Twelfth Month, Second Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, December 2

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天六歲
醫喜合支

Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

吉凶凶

戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯

吉吉凶

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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
進新整理
水船甲髮
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
丁

未
水

尾
成

Eleventh Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Tail (6/28)

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

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

宜
醞動訂祭
釀土婚祀
作竪納祈
灶柱采福
栽上裁入
種樑衣學
安修修會
葬倉造友
冬成塞閉
厭四水債
對擊痕不

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Erecting PIllars
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Winter Takes Hold
(the sixtieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Water Scar
Four Fisticuffs
Mutual Repression

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人
Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

厠  庫  倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary