China's Lunar Calendar 2015 02-04

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/9..............................................................................................................................2/2

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
四
日

三期星

Second Month, Fourth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, February 4

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十合月
靈日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

凶凶吉

戌午寅
吉吉吉
亥未卯
中吉吉

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 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
嫁造合
娶酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Marriage Alliances

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
六
辛
亥
金

壁
收

Sixteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Eastern Wall (14/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)*
*Occasionally a "personality repeats, as it does today.

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

春立
五十午
  十一      
八時初
  分          
宜
動移祭
土徙祀
作開出
灶市行
凍解風東 
劫重猪
煞日口

————
Beginning of Spring
 Beginning of the wu hour; 11:58 AM

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Stove Work

East Wind Melts the Ice

(the first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Hog Mouth

Doubled Days

Plundered Balefulness

Section Seven

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

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

廚
牀 灶

Kitchen
Bed, Stove