China's Lunar Calendar 2016 01-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/22..............................................................................................................1/15

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
六

六期星

First Month, Sixteenth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, January 16

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天天三
靈醫喜合

Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Happiness
Ten Spirits 

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

戌午寅
中吉中

亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
進新整理
水船甲髮
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
New Boats
Entering Water 

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
七
丁
酉
火
柳
成
Seventh Day Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12) 

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

宜

動醫嫁祭
土病娶祀
上開納酬
牀市采福
修交裁入
倉易衣學
安修移出
葬造徙行
雊雉
陽勾班水
將陳煞痕

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Appeasing Spirits

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Households

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Putting-together Beds

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Graves  

Pheasant Calls its Mate
(the sixty-ninth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

  
Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Classified Balefulness
Narrative Hook
Yang General

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 山

White, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate