China's Lunar Calendar 2017 10-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/23......................................................10/20..............Monthly Calendar Information

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
三

一期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Third Day

Monday, October 23

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天十
將恩靈

Ten Spirits
Heavenly Kindness
Not General

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

吉吉吉
亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
合裁詞
帳衣訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Cutting-out Clothing
Binding Sails

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

除
四
癸
未
木
張
收
Fourth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiwei (20/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Running Board (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

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

降霜
二十未
十三出
七時    
  分           
宜

天祭
獵祀
結捕
網捉
獸祭乃豺
朱五長
雀虛星

————

Thunder Descends
(the eighteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Physician Inquiries
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Opening Granaries
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Wolves Sacrifice Beasts
(the fifty-second of seventy-two solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)


Baleful Astral Influences

Long Star
Five Voids
Vermilion Bird

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫州

Bifurcation, Landmass
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

房

厠 牀

Edifice
Toilet, Bed