China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/20..............................................................................................................2/12

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
四

日期星

Second Month, Fourteenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, February 14

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲歲
馬德

Generational Virtue
Generational Horse

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

戌午寅
中吉凶

亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
祭作
祀灶
Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
七
丙
寅
火
星
建
Seventh Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Asterism  (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12) 

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

宜

拆
卸
掃
舍
————
魚
陟
負
冰
————
長歲
星破

————
Appropriate Activities  
Unhitching and Unloading
Sweeping Floors

Fish Swim Upstream, Breaking Ice
(the third of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Generational Destruction
Long Star

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 天

White, Heaven
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove