China's Lunar Calendar 2016 01-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/14................................................1/10........................Monthly Information

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
十一
日月

日期星

First Month, Tenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, January 10

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月歲
將恩祿

Generational Emolument
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

戌午寅
吉吉吉

亥未卯
中凶吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
穿造合
井酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Boring Wells

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
一
辛
卯
木
昂
滿
First Day Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12) 

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

宜

開出祭
市行祀
上嫁酬
樑娶神
成納入
服采學
安理會
葬髮友
日密
天天灾
狗火煞

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Appeasing Spirits
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Raising Beams
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves 

  
Mysterious Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Balefulness
Heavenly Fire
Heavenly Canine

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚
門 灶

Kitchen
Gate, Stove