China's Lunar Calendar 2016 03-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/20..................................................................................................................3/14

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
五

二期星

Third Month, Fifteenth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, March 15

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

解天歲
神馬德

Generational Virtue
Heavenly Horse
Releasing Spirits 
—————

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

戌午寅
吉中凶

亥未卯
吉吉中

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 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
安作修
牀灶倉
Repairing Granaries
Stove Work
Positioning Beds

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
七
丙
申
火
翌
執
Seventh Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

上沐祭
樑浴祀
捕掃祈
捉舍福
破出會
土火友
安入出
鳩為化鷹
劫小水
煞耗痕

————
Appropriate Activities
 Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Floors
Lighting Fires
Staying Home
Raising Beams
Seizing and Capturing
Ramming Earth
Positioning Graves 

Hawks Transform Into Doves 
(the ninth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Small Squander
Plundered Balefulness

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 水

White, Water
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚
爐 灶 

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove