China's Lunar Calendar 2015 10-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/3.......................................................................................................10/26

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
七

二期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, October 27

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天德歲
德日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Heavenly Virtue

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

戌午寅
吉凶中

亥未卯
吉中中

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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
問作修
卜灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Divination Requests

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十

五
丙
子
水
翌
滿
Fifteenth Day Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Wings (27/28)

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

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

宜
動嫁祭
土娶祀
上內祈
樑采福
修開會
倉市友
安交出
葬易行
忌歸
俱天灾
將火煞

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

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Balefulness
Heavenly Fire
Everything General 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 地
Bifurcation, Earth
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

廚

碓 灶

Kitchen
Pestle, Stove