China's Lunar Calendar 2016 06-28

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
八

二期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, June 28

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲德歲
祿合月

Generational Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Generational Emolument

————

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

戌午寅
吉吉凶
亥未卯
凶吉中

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 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 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
遠造合
行酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Distant Journeys

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
辛
巳
金
觜
閉
Twenty-Fourth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinsi (18/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
蓋補祭
屋垣祀
伐塞裁
木穴衣
栽安築
種門堤
納作修
畜灶倉
日重
血無上
支祿兀

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Cutting-out Clothing

Building Dikes

Repairing Granaries

Patching Embankments

Fillling Caves

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Covering Rooms

Felling Timber

Planting and Cultivating

Livestock Payments  

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Without Emolument
Blood Branch
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities
廚
牀 庫 

Kitchen
Bed, Stove