China's Lunar Calendar 2015 05-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/21................................................5/18....................Monthly Calendar 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
廿
一

四期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-First Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, May 21

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不十三民
將靈合日
Peopled Days

Three Linkages

Ten Spirits

Not General

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

吉中凶

戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯
凶吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
時栽整理
插種甲髮
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
四
丁
酉
火

斗
定

Fourth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

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

滿小
分十時十申
    五四六正
宜
上開納出
樑市采行
安動移嫁
葬土徙娶

秀菜苦

朱死五上
雀氣離兀

————
Grain Full
At the shen hour; 16:45 o'clock
 (the eighth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Graves

Bitter Herbs Grow Tall
(the twenty-second of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

 Upper Amputee
Five Separations
Death Vapor
Vermilion Bird

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
丫 林
Bifurcation, Copse

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate