China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/13................................................................................................................8/6

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
日

一期星

Eighth Month, Tenth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, August 10

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合天六歲
日德合支
Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Heavenly Virtue
Linked Days

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

吉吉凶

戌午寅
中中凶
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 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
進新置買
水船業田
Buying Land
Setting-up Industry
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
六
戊
午
火
心
開
Twenty-Sixth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuwu (55/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Heart-Mind (5/28)

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

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

宜

上裁出祭
樑衣行祀
安移訂祈
牀徙婚福
納修 納入
畜造采學
成動嫁會
服土娶友
不債
灾班水上
煞煞痕兀

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

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Households

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Completing Clothing
Debt Not

 

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Water Scar
Classified Balefulness
Disastrous Balefulness

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
丫 火
Bifurcation, Fire

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

碓 牀 房

Pestle, Bed, Edifice