China's Lunar Calendar 2015 12-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/23.....................................................................................................................12/16

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
七

四期星

Twelfth Month, Seventeenth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, December 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

民歲
日祿

Generational Emolument
Peopled Days

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

戌午寅
中凶吉

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
穿理
井髮
Patterning Hair
Boring Wells

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初

七
丁
卯
火
井
平
Seventh Day Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Well (22/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

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

宜
平
道
塗
飾
垣
牆
————
出挺荔
————
復水
喪痕

————
Appropriate Activities
Leveling Roadways
Painting and Adorning Walls and Embankments    

Garlic Chives Sprout
(the sixty-third of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Repeat Mourning

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 州

White, Landmass
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

門
庫 倉

Gate
Storehouse, Granary