China's Lunar Calendar 2015 12-22

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
廿
二

二期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Second Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, December 22

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除天天月
神醫喜德

Lunar Virtue
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Expelling Spirits

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

戌午寅
中凶凶

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 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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
動安放開
土牀水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
二
壬
申
金
翌
成

Twelfth Day Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12) 

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

節冬
————
至冬
四十午
十二正
八時    
分        
宜
安開嫁出
葬市行行
結蚓蚯
陽土無長
將符祿星

————
Winter Festival

Winter Arrives (Winter Solstice)
Begins at the wu hour; 12:48 o'clock
 (the twenty-second of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the calendar)

Appropriate Activities 
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Opening Markets
Positioning Graves 

Earthworms Twist

(the sixty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Long Star
Without Emolument
Soil Charm
Yang General 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 地

White, Earth 
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

爐 庫 倉

Furnace, Storehouse, Granary