China's Lunar Calendar 2015 07-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/27................................................................................................................7/21

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
五

六期星

Seventh Month, Twenty-Fifth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, July 25

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十五金母
靈富匱倉
Maternal Granary
Golden Cupboard-bare
Five Fortunes
Ten Spirits

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

中中凶

戌午寅
吉中吉
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 In-Between
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
祈祭放開
福祀水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
十
壬
寅
金
胃
危

Tenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Stomach (17/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

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

宜

安開納入
牀倉采學
作修移會
灶造徙友
成動入出
服土宅行
安上理訂
葬樑髮婚
星長
游債下虎
禍不兀口

————
Appropriate Activities
 Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Staying Home
Patterning Hair
Opening Granaries
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Long Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Tiger Mouth
Lower Amputee
Debt Not
Natatorial Disaster

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
人
Person

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary