China's Lunar Calendar 2015 10-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/25.....................................................................................................................10/18

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
三

五期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Third Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, October 23

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生驛金
空氣馬匱

Golden Cupboard
Postal Horse
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Vacancy

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

戌午寅
中中凶

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
進新安開
水船牀渠
Opening Sluices
Positioning Beds
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十

一
壬
申
金
鬼
開
Eleventh Day Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Ghost (23/28)

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

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

宜
出修裁祭
財造衣祀
置動移祈
產土徙福
栽上理入
種樑髮學
成開醫出
服倉病行
不債
厭火水上
對星痕兀

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Physician Visits
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Capital Outlfow
Setting-up Industry
Planting and Cultivating
Completing Clothing

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Water Scar

Fire Star

Mutual Repression

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人
Person
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary