China's Lunar Calendar 2016 08-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/31...............................................................................................................8/24

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

日期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, August 28

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月生月
將恩氣德
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Not General

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
凶中凶
酉己丑
中吉吉
戌午寅 

中中凶
亥未卯
吉吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
搭苫放開
厠蓋水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
壬
午
木
星
開
Twenty-Sixth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

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

宜

開移出祭
倉徙行祀
置修嫁祈
產造娶福
栽動納入
種土采學
納上裁會
畜樑衣友
肅始地天
天班水債
火煞痕不
————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Setting-up Production
Livestock Payments  

Heaven and Earth Turn Strict
(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the lunar calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not

Water Scar

Classified Balefulness

Heavenly Fire

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary