China's Lunar Calendar 2017 10-16

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
六
一期星

Tenth Month, Sixteenth Day

Monday, October 16

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時月天鳳
德德德凰

Phoenix
Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue 
Timely Virtue

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

吉中吉
亥未卯
吉中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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
取問作修
魚卜灶廚
Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Inquiring-into Fortune
Garnering Piscinity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
丙
子
水
畢
滿
Twenty-Seventh Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

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

宜

修交嫁祭
倉易娶祀
栽修納祈

種造采福 

納動裁會

畜土衣友

安上開出

葬梁市行

不債
俱歸天楊

將忌火忌
————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Poplar Taboo
Heavenly Conflagration
Return Taboo
Everything General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen