China's Lunar Calendar 2015 04-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/9...................................................................................................................4/2

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
五
日

日期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, April 5

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十三歲
靈合支
Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Ten Spirits

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

凶凶凶

戌午寅
凶吉吉
亥未卯
中吉吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
除嫁合
服娶醬
Mixing Sauces
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
辛
亥
金

昂
危

Seventeenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger* (9/12)
*A day-personality is repeated occasionally, as it is today.

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

明清
九三十己
分十時正
————

宜

栽捕會
種捉友
納掃安
畜舍牀
華始桐
陰重水
將日痕

————
Pure Brightness
At the ji hour; 10:39 AM
(The fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

 Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Positioning Beds
Seizing and Capturing
Sweeping Floors
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments

Paulownia Blooms
(The thirteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences
Water Scar
Doubled Days
Yin General

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
丫 林
Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous
廚

牀 灶

Kitchen

Bed, Stove