China's Lunar Calendar 2016 05-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/6.................................................................................................................4/28

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
三
日

二期星

Fifth Month, Third Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, May 3

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不寶六天
將光合貴

Heavenly Nobility
Six Linkages
Precious Rays
Not General

————

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

戌午寅
凶中凶
亥未卯 

中中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
修動時栽
倉動插種
Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Moving Soil
Repairing Granaries 

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
七
乙
酉
水
觜
執
Twenty-Seventh Day Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安理納祭
牀髮采祀
作醫嫁祈
灶病娶福
納上裁出
畜樑衣行
安醞移訂
葬釀徙婚
不債
大咸小五
時池耗虛

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Physician Treatments
Raising Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves    

Death Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Small Squander
Widespread Pond
Great Temporality 
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫

Bifurcation
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle