China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/5................................................................................................................7/28

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
一八
日月

六期星

Eighth Month, First Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, August 1

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進除德天
神神合月
Heavenly Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Expelling Spirits
Entering Spirits

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

中吉凶

戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯
凶吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
行成除針
喪服靈灸
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
己
酉
土
柳
滿
Seventeenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiyou (46/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Willow (24/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

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

宜

動理納祭
土髮采祀
上開嫁祈
樑市娶福
安交裁出
牀易移行
作修移訂
灶造徙婚

日復

重血灾五
喪忌煞離

————
Appropriate Activities
 Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Households

Patterning Hair

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Building

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work
 
Repeating Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Disastrous Balefulness
Blood Taboo
Doubled Mourning

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
白 山
White, Mountain

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination