China's Lunar Calendar 2017 09-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/19...........................................................................................................9/12

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
五

五期星

Ninth Month, Fifteenth Day

Friday, September 15

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天臨合月
醫喜日日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Encountering Days
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

吉中中
亥未卯
凶中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
行成除遠栽

喪服靈行種
Planting and Cultivating

Distant Journeys

Expelling Spirits

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
乙
巳
火
婁
成
Twenty-Fifth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Tower (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

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

宜

築修移會祭
提造徙友祀
安動醫訂祈
牀土病婚福
作上開納求
灶梁市采嗣
納修交嫁入
畜倉易娶學
日重
陰朱復無上
將雀喪祿元
————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Emolument
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Tax Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Constructing Dikes
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Beginning
No Emolument
Repeat Mourning
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 磨 丫 
Bed, Mortar, Pestle