China's Lunar Calendar 2016 11-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/20................................................................................................................11/12

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
四

一期星

Eleventh Month, Fourteenth Day

Astral Period One 
Monday, November 14

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吉合天鳳
期日德凰
Phoenix
Heavenly Virtue
Linked Days
Auspicious Temporal-Slice 

————

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

凶凶凶
亥未卯
中吉中

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 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
取田問結
魚獵卜網
Binding Nets
Inquiring-into Fortune
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity  

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
庚
子
土
畢
除
Fifteenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

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

元下
————
宜

動移出祭
土徙行祀
上理嫁祈
樑髮娶福
安開納會
葬市采友
兀下
陽白大咸
將虎時池
————

Xiayuan Festival
(Fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month)
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Patterning Hair

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Graves

Lower Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Widespread Pond
Great Temporality
White Tiger
Yang General 

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire

———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination