China's Lunar Calendar 2015 03-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/1...................................................................................................................3/25

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
九

日期星

Third Month, Twenty-Ninth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, March 29

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十吉守月
靈期日德
Lunar Virtue
Protected Days
Auspicious Temporal-Slice
Ten Spirits

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

凶中凶

戌午寅
凶凶吉
亥未卯
吉吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
行除出開
喪服財倉
Opening Sluices
Cash Outflow
Expelling Spirits
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
十
甲
辰
火

虛
除

Tenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiachen (41/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Void (11/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

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

宜

上理出祭
樑發行祀
修移訂祈
倉徙納福
栽修納求
種造采嗣
安動嫁會
葬土娶友
喪三
俱天無密
醬行祿日

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair
Moving Households
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Beds

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days
Five Emoluments
Heavenly Punishment
Everything General

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
人 火
Person, Fire

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous
栖 碓 門

Perch, Mortar, Gate