China's Lunar Calendar 2016 01-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/9............................................................................................................1/2/2016

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
三
日

日期星

First Month, Third Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, January 3

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天母
恩醫喜倉

Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness 

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

戌午寅
中凶凶

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
動安出開
土牀財倉
Opening Granaries 
Cash Outflow
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil 

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
甲
申
水
虛
成
Twenty-Fourth Day Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12) 

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

宜
醞理出祭
釀髮行祀
作開嫁祈
灶市娶福
納交納入
畜易采學
安上移會
葬樑徙友
符土
俱九九密
將焦坎日

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Soil
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Fermenting Liquor
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Positioning Beds     

Soil Charm

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days
Nine Thresholds
Nine Scorchings
Everything General

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 地

White, Earth
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination