China's Lunar Calendar 2016 04-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/6..................................................................................................................3/30

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
五
日

二期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, April 5

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

五六歲歲
富合支祿

Generational Emolument
Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Five Wealths

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

戌午寅
凶吉凶
亥未卯 

凶吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

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
除作遠理
服灶行髮
Patterning Hair
Distant Journeys
Stove Work
Discarding Clothing

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
八
丁
巳
土
觜
除
Twenty-Eighth Day Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingsi (54/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (2/12)*
*Several times a year, a "day personality repeats, as it does today.

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
修交納祭
倉易采祀 
醞修裁祈
釀造衣福
栽動移會
種土徙會
納上開嫁
畜樑市娶
虛五
陽火重四
 將星日祥不

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

 Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments

Five Voids 

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fortune-Nots
Doubled Days
Fire Star
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 人

White, Person
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 庫 倉

Bed, Storehouse, Granary