China's Lunar Calendar 2015 01-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/1..............................................................................................................................1/24

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
五

日期星

First Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Astral Period Sun 
Sunday, January 25

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月
將恩

Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

凶吉吉

戌午寅
中吉吉
亥未卯
吉凶吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
造合
酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
六
辛
丑
土

房
建

Sixth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinchou (38/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Edifice (4/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

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

宜

裁祭
衣祀
安會
牀友
開訂
倉婚
疾厲鳥鷙
三土
喪府

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Positioning Beds
Opening Granaries

 
Vulture Flies Stern and Swift
(the seventy-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Earth Palace
Three Mournings

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 州
Bifurcation, Landmass

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

廚

厠 灶

Kitchen
Toilet, Stove