China's Lunar Calendar 2015 05-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/17.....................................................................................................................5/10

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
十
五

五期星

Fourth Month, Fifteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, May 15

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時天歲
氣陽德祿

Generational Emolument

Heavenly Virtue

Timely Yang

Engendered Vapor

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

凶吉凶

戌午寅
吉吉吉
亥未卯
凶中吉

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 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 In-Between
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
開穿造合
池井酒醬
Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
七
辛
卯
木

抗
開

Twenty-Seventh Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Neck (2/28)

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

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

宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
安交嫁祈
門易婚福
作修納入
灶造采學
置動移會
產土徙友
煞班
俱元天灾
將武火煞

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Building

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Setting-up Production

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Fire

Primal Martiality

Everything General

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
丫 人
Bifurcation, Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous
門 灶 畜

Gate, Stove, Kitchen