China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-19

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
九

五期星

Second Month, Nineteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, February 19

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉德歲
堂合月

Generational Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Jade Palace

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

戌午寅
中吉凶

亥未卯
中中吉

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
田造合
獵酒醬
Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Field Venery

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
二
辛
未
火
亢
執
Twelfth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12) 

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

水雨
十十未
三三初
四時   
分       
————
宜

動嫁祭
土娶祀
安移出
葬徙行
魚祭獺
下陽小
兀將耗

————
Rain Water
At the wei hour; 13:34 o'clock
(the second of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Moving Households

Moving Soil

Positioning Graves

River Otters Venerate Fish
(the fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Squander
Yang General
Lower Amputee

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 山

White, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

厠
廚 灶

Toilet
Kitchen, Stove