China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-18

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
八

四期星

Second Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, February 18

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三天時
陰合馬德

Timely Virtue
Heavenly Horse
Three Linkages
Timely Yin 

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

戌午寅
凶吉凶

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
成除動結
服服土網
Binding Nets
Moving Soil
Discarding Clothing
Completing Clothing 

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
庚
午
火
角
定
Eleventh Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12) 

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

宜

開移出祭
倉徙行祀
安理訂祈
門髮婚福
納堅納入
畜株采學
安上嫁會
葬樑娶友
不債
死復地水
氣喪囊痕

————
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Gates
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves 

Debt Not 

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Earth Duffel
Repeat Mourning
Death Vapor 

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人 火

Person, Fire
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination