China's Lunar Calendar 2016 06-27

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
廿
七

一期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Astral Period One
Monday, June 27

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時三歲
氣德合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Timely Virtue
Engendered Vapor

————

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

戌午寅
凶吉凶
亥未卯
吉吉中

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
取伐開結
魚木倉網
Binding Nets
Opening Granaries
Felling Timber
Garnering Fish

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
三
庚
辰
金
畢
開
Twenty-Third Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
龍分
————
宜
置移出祭
產徙行祀
作動嫁入
灶土娶學
栽上納會
種樑采友
虛五
俱無月龍
將祿忌口

————
Dragon Divide

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Setting-up Production
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating   

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Dragon Mouth
Lunar Taboo
Without Emolument
Everything General 
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Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities
栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle