China's Lunar Calendar 2016 06-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/26................................................................................................................6/18

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
八

六期星

Sixth Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, June 18

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吉守德歲
期日合月

Generational Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Protected Days
Auspicious Temporal-Slice

————

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

戌午寅
中吉凶
亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
行除造合
喪服酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
四
辛
未
土
女
除
Fourteenth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Woman (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

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

上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
修交納祈
倉易采福
納修移會
畜造徙友
安動理出
葬土髮行
喪三
勾月下小
 陳忌兀亡空

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves    

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
Lunar Taboo
Narrative Hook
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

厠 灶 廚

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen