China's Lunar Calendar 2015 03-01

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
一三
日月

日期星

Third Month, First Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, March 1

———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生月德歲
氣德日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor

—————————————————

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

吉吉凶

戌午寅
吉凶中
亥未卯
吉中中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
問動作修
卜土灶廚
Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Moving Soil
Divinatory Inquiries

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
丙
子
水

虛
開

Eleventh Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Void (11/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
置移出祭
產徙行祀
栽開嫁祈
種市娶福
納交納入
畜易采學
成上裁會
服樑衣友
動萌木草
天地班密
火囊煞日

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Putting-up Beams
Setting-up Production
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing

Grasses and Trees Sprout
(the sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days
Classified Balefulness
Earth Duffel
Heavenly Fire

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白
White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen