China's Lunar Calendar 2016 04-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/19.................................................................................................................4/12

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
七

日期星

Fourth Month, Seventeenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, April 17

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲歲
合支祿

Generational Emolument
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

戌午寅
凶吉凶
亥未卯 

凶吉中

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
成除遠
服靈行
Distant Journeys
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
己
巳
木
房
除
Eleventh Day Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (6/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
事用王土
————
宜
上掃會
樑舍友
作修裁
灶造衣
栽動移
種土徙
不債
重重水
喪日痕

————

Earth King Usage Affairs
(a division breaking the solar year into five seventy-two day periods)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating  

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Doubled Days
Repeat Morning

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人 人

Person, Person
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

占
牀 門 

Divination
Bed, Gate