China's Lunar Calendar 2015 01-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/23.............................................1/20...................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
二一
十月

二期星

First Month, Twentieth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, January 20

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除五福歲
神富生馬

Generational Horse
Fortunate Engenderment
Five Abundances
Expelling Spirits

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

吉吉吉

戌午寅
吉中凶
亥未卯
吉凶中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
進新安作
水船牀灶
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
一
丙
申

火

翌
危

First Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Wings (27/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

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

寒大
分十時十酉
    三四七初
宜

上開理祭
樑市髮祀
安動移出
葬土徙行
乳雞
五無水下
虛祿痕兀

————
Great Cold
At the beginning of the you hour; 17:43 o'clock
(the last of twenty-four fifteen day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Going Out (and about) 

Patterning Hair

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Putting-up Beams

Positioning Graves 

Pheasant Hens Brood
(the seventieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Water Scar
Without Emolument
Five Voids

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 火
White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen