China's Lunar Calendar 2015 02-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/1.................................................................................................................2/22

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
六

四期星

Second Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, February 26

———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除陰福
神德生

Lucky Engenderment
Yin Virtue
Expelling Spirits

—————————————————

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

中吉凶

戌午寅
中中吉
亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
產修詞
室置訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Setting-up Production
Repairing Rooms

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
八
癸
酉
金

斗
危

Eighth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Dipper (8/28)

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

—————————————————  

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

宜
上理祭
樑髮祀
作移祈
灶徙福
開修入
倉造學
安動出
葬土行
將俱
元五五
武虛離

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Moving Households
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Stove Work
Opening Granaries
Positioning Graves

Everything General

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Five Voids
Primal Martiality

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人 人
Person, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

房

門 牀

Edifice
Gate, Bed