China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/29..............................................................................................................2/21

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
廿
四

三期星

Second Month, Twenty-Fourth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, February 24

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生月歲
恩氣德德

Generational Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness

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

戌午寅
吉凶凶

亥未卯
吉中中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
進新動作
水船土灶
Stove Work

Moving Soil

New Boats

Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
丙
子
水
箕
開
Seventeenth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12) 

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

宜

上移出祭
樑徙行祀
置開嫁祈
產市娶福
納交納入
畜易采學
除竪裁會
福株衣友
北雁候
天地班水
火囊煞痕

————
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce   
Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Setting-up Production

Livestock Payments

Discarding Clothing

Swan Geese Come North
（the fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

 Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Decade

Upper Amputee

Doubled Days

Plundered Balefulness

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫

Bifurcation
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen