China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-04

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
四
日
四期星

Twelfth Month, Fourth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, December 4

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進生德歲
神氣合月

Generational Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Engendered Vapor
Entering Spirits

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

中凶凶

戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯

凶吉凶

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 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
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
塞補田伐
穴垣獵木
Felling Timber
Field Venery
Patching Embankments
Plugging-up Caves

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
三
己

酉
土

斗
開

Thirteenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiyou (46/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Dipper (9/28)

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

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

宜
上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
安納納祈
牀財采福
作修移入
灶造徙學
置動理出
產土髮行
煞班
陽天灾上
將火煞兀

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
 Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Cash Outflow
Repairing and Building
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Setting-up Production

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Disastrous Balefulness
Heavenly Conflagration
Yang General

————

Section Seven

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

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

門 大 占

Gate, Big, Divination