China's Lunar Calendar 2017 04-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/9..................................................................................................................4/2

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
九
日

日期星

Fourth Month, Ninth Day

Sunday, April 9

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生麒德歲
氣麟日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Branch
Unicorn
Engendered Vapor

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

凶吉中
亥未卯
中中凶

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
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 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
祈祭作修
福祀灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
三
丙
寅
火
星
開
Thirteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

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

————

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

宜

上開納入
梁市采學
開交裁會
渠易衣友
穿修移出
井造徙行
置動醫訂
產土病婚
鴽為化鼠田 
血厭下虎
忌對兀口
————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells
Setting-up Production

Moles Become Quails
(the fourteenth of seventy-two five-day solar mini-periods on the agricultural calendar)   

Baleful Astral Influences

Tiger Mouth
Lower Amputee
Facing Resentment
Blood Taboo

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 火

White, Fire
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen