China's Lunar Calendar 2016 01-04

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
四
日

一期星

First Month, Fourth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, January 4

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合歲
日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days

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

戌午寅
中凶吉

亥未卯
中中凶

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

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

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
時栽
插種
Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
五
乙
酉
水
危
收
Twenty-Fifth Day Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12) 

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

宜
理
髮
掃
舍
捕
捉
結
網
咸版
池煞
俱河
將魁

————
Appropriate Activities 
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Floors
 Seizing and Capturing
Binding Nets 

Baleful Astral Influences

Classified Balefulness
River Stalwart
Widespread Pond
Everything General 

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Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 神

White, Spirit
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

碓
門 磨

Pestle
Gate, Mortar