China's Lunar Calendar 2017 01-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/21............................................1/17..............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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying 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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
十
七

三期星

First Month, Seventeenth Day 
Wednesday, January 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天進天天
恩神醫喜

Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Entering Spirits
Heavenly Kindness

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

中吉中
亥未卯
凶凶凶

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
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 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
成除進新
服靈水船

New Boats
Entering Water
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一

己

酉
土

軫
成
First Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiyou (46/60)

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

————

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

宜

動移嫁祭
土徙娶祀
上掃納入
梁舎采學
醞開裁出
釀市衣行
煞班
陽復重水
將日喪痕

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Fermenting Beverages 

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Repeat Mourning
Doubled Days
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 山

White, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities
門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination