China's Lunar Calendar 2015 03-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/24.................................................3/20.....................Monthly 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
廿
一

六期星

Third Month, Twenty-First Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, March 21

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

解要天
神安馬
Heavenly Horse
Urgent Calm
Unleashing Spirits

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

凶吉凶

戌午寅
吉中凶
亥未卯
凶吉中

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
安作修
牀灶廚
Kitchen Repairs

Stove Work

Positioning Beds

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
二
丙
申
火

氐
執

Second Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiwei (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Foundation (3/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

分春
五四六卯
分十時正

宜

上理祭
樑髮祀
安移出
葬徙行
至鳥玄
劫五猴
煞離口

————

Spring Division
(Vernal Equinox)
Begins in the mao hour—6:45 AM
(the fourth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Moving Households
Raising Beams
Positioning Graves

Swallows Return
(the tenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Monkey Mouth

Five Separations

Plundered Balefulness

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
白 水
White, Water

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

廚

爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove