China's Lunar Calendar 2015 05-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/9.....................................................................................................................5/2

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
二
日

六期星

Fifth Month, Second Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, May 2

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時陽天
氣陽德赦

Heavenly Amnesty

Yang Virtue

Temporal Yang

Engendered Vapor

—————————————————

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

中吉凶

戌午寅
凶吉凶
亥未卯
中吉吉

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
祈祭置買
福祀業田
Buying Land

Setting-up Production

Venerating Ancestors

Discarding Clothing

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
四
戊
辰
土

胃
開

Fourteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuyin (15/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Stomach (17/28)

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

—————————————————  

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

宜

上開內入
樑市采學
安交嫁會
牀易娶友
開修醫出
渠造病行
穿動移訂
井土徙婚
喪復
陰復厭月
將日對忌

————
Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Physician Visits
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Commercial Transactions
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Astral Influences
Lunar Taboo

Mutual Loathing

Repeated Days

Yin General

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
丫 火
Bifurcation, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 牀 房

Furnace, Bed, Edifice