China's Lunar Calendar 2017 09-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/2...............................................................................................................9/24

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
七

三期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Wednesday, September 27

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天合歲
醫喜日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

吉吉中
亥未卯
凶吉凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
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 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
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
成除遠理
服靈行髮

Patterning Hair
Distant Journeys
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
八
丁
巳
土
軫
成
Eighth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingsi (54/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Running Board (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

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

宜

上開嫁祭
梁市婚祀
安交納祈
牀易采福
醞修移入
釀造徙學
納動醫會
畜土病友
口蛇
陰朱重下
將雀日兀
————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Physician Treatments

Going-to Market

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Snake Mouth

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Doubled Days
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 山

White, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 庫 倉

Bed, Storehouse, Granary