China's Lunar Calendar 2015 09-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/12..................................................................................................................9/4

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
一

一期星

Ninth Month, Eleventh Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, September 11

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

解月歲
神德德
Generational Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Unleashing Spirits

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

中中凶
戌午寅
凶中吉

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
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
祈祭結
福祀網
Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
九
庚
寅
木
牛
執
Twenty-Ninth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Ox (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

宜

作修入
灶造學
開動出
渠土行
成上訂
服樑婚
安安理
葬門髮
忌楊
歸劫小
忌煞耗

————
Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Patterning Hair
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Opening Sluices
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Squander
Plundered Balefulness
Return Taboo

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
白 地

White, Earth

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

碓

爐 磨

Pestle

Furnace, Mortar