China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/2/2015..........................................................................................................................12/26

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
七
六期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, December 27

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天月歲
醫喜德馬

Generational Horse
Lunar Virtue
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

吉吉吉

戌午寅
中凶凶
亥未卯

中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
動安放開
土牀水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
六
壬
申

金

氐
成

Sixth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Foundation (3/28)

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

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

宜
上理出祭
樑髮行祀
安醫嫁祈
門病娶福
作開納入
灶市采學
安交移會
葬易徙友
解角麋
陽土五上
將符離兀

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Patterning Hair

Physician Treatments

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Putting-up Beams

Positioning Doors

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Elk Break Antlers
(the sixty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Five Separations
Earth Charm
Yang General

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 地
White, Earth

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary