China's Lunar Calendar 2016 01-20

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
二
十

三期星

First Month, Twentieth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, January 20

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月要
恩安

Urgent Calm
Lunar Kindness

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

戌午寅
中吉吉

亥未卯
吉凶吉

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 Auspicious
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
造合
酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
辛
丑
土
軫
建
Eleventh Day Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinchou (38//60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (1/12) 

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

大
寒
二子
十初
七廿
分三
    時
————

宜
舎掃
雞

乳
三歲
喪破

————
Great Cold
At the beginning of the zi hour; 3:27 a.m.
(the twenty-fourth of twenty-four fifteen day solar periods on the lunar calendar)

Appropriate Activities 
Sweeping Floors
  

Pheasant Hens Brood
(the seventieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the lunar calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Generational Destruction
Three Mournings

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 州

White, Landmass
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚

廁 磨

Kitchen
Toilet, Mortar