China's Lunar Calendar 2015 01-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/19..........................................................................................................................1/11

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
十
七

六期星

First Month, Seventeenth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, January 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三玉天
陰合堂貴

Heavenly Nobility
Jade Hall
Three Linkages
Timely Yin

—————————————————

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

中吉中

戌午寅
吉中中
亥未卯
凶凶吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
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 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
成除遠詞
服服行訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing
Completing Clothing

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
七
癸
巳

水

柳
定

Twenty-Seventh Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guisi (30/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Willow (24/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

—————————————————  

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

事用王土
宜

醞修裁會
釀造衣友
作動移訂
灶土徙婚
納上交納
畜樑易采
將俱
招厭死重
搖對氣日

————
Earth King Usage Matters
(one of the divisions that create five 72-degree segments in the solar year)

Appropriate Activities 
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Everything General

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days
Death Vapor
Mutual Repression
Swaggering Braggadocio

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 林
Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

牀 房 占

Bed, Edifice, Divination