China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-22

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/25..................................................12/22..........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
二二
    月
一期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Second Day

Astral Period One
Monday, December 22

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天合月
恩日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Heavenly Kindness

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

凶中中

戌午寅
中凶吉
亥未卯

吉吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
開穿理
池井髮
Patterning Hair
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
一
丁

卯
火

張
平

First Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Drawn Bow (26/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

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

節冬
至冬
零七辰
三時初
分       
宜
飾平祭
垣道祀
結蚓蚯
復天月
喪罡刑

————
Winter Festival
Winter Solstice
At the beginning of the chen hour; 7:03 a.m.
(the twenty-second of twenty-four fifteen day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Leveling Roads
Adorning Embankments

Earthworms Twist
(the sixty-fourth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Punishment
Heavenly Dipper
Repeat Mourning

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 州
White, Landmass

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

門

庫 倉

Gate
Storehouse, Granary