China's Lunar Calendar 2016 09-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/13.................................................................................................................9/6

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
七
日

三期星

Ninth Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, September 7

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天月
恩醫喜德
Lunar Virtue
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness 

————

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

凶中凶
亥未卯
吉中吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
進新放開
水船水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
New Boats
Entering Water

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
七
壬
辰
水
箕
成
Seventh Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

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

露白
五十午
十二正
一時    
分        
宜

上開會祭
樑市友祀
安動訂入
葬土婚學
來雁鴻
血月火水
忌厭星痕
————

White Dew
In wu hour; 12:51 p.m.
(the fifteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar) 

 Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Graves

Wild Geese Arrive
(the forty-third of seventy-two five-day micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Fire Star
Lunar Repression
Blood Taboo

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 地

White, Earth

———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary