China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/12.........................................................................................................................12/5

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
八
日
一期星

Twelfth Month, Eighth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, December 8

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天陰六吉
恩德合期

Auspicious Period
Six Unities
Yin Virtue
Heavenly Kindness

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

吉吉吉

戌午寅
吉凶中
亥未卯

中凶吉

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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

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
行成除詞
喪服靈訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
癸

丑
木

危
除

Seventeenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Danger (12/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)*
*Occasionally the calendar-makers repeat a "personality" day (as they do today).

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

宜

動醫嫁祭
土病娶祀
上開納祈
樑市采福
安交移會
牀易徙友
納修理出
畜造髮行
喪三
小陰復水
亡空將日痕 

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Repeated Days
Yin General
Small Loss-Void

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 人
Bifurcation, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous
厠 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, House