China's Lunar Calendar 2017 10-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/19...............................................................................................................10/12

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
三

五期星

Tenth Month, Thirteenth Day

Friday, October 13

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除官四
神日相

Four Separations
Official Days
Exorcising Spirits

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

中中吉
亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
治針詞
目灸訟  
Lawsuits and Litigation
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Opthalmic Treatments

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
癸
酉
金
婁
閉
Twenty-Fourth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

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

宜

安移祭
牀居祀
作理出
灶髮行
成修嫁
服造娶
安動裁
葬土衣
蛤為水大入雀
月上血
害兀支
————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Sparrows Enter the Water and Turn Into Clams
(the fiftieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)


Baleful Astral Influences

Blood Branch
Upper Amputee
Lunar Harm

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白

White
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

房

門 牀

Edifice
Gate, Bed