China's Lunar Calendar 2015 04-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/22.......................................................4/19............................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
二
十

一期星

Fourth Month, Twentieth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, April 20

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天生時陽

恩氣德德

Heavenly Kindness

Engendered Vapor

Timely Virtue

Yang Virtue

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

吉中凶

戌午寅
凶吉中
亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
祈祭作修

福祀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
二
丙
寅
火

心
開

Second Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Heart-Mind (5/28)

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

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

雨穀
分十時十酉
    二四七初
宜

上移嫁入
樑徙娶學
置動納出
產土采行
生始萍
血招厭債
忌搖對不

————
Corn Rain
At the beginning of the you hour: 17:42)
 (the sixth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Setting-up Production

Floating Weeds Appear 

(the sixteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the lunar calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not

Mutual Loathing

Rollicking Braggadocio

Blood Taboo

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
白 火
White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen