China's Lunar Calendar 2018 01-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/16........................................................................................................1/9

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
九
日

二期星

First Month, Ninth Day

Tuesday, January 9

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月要
將恩安

Urgent Calm
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

中吉吉
亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
動造合
土酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Moving Soil

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三

辛
丑
土
觜

建
Twenty-Third Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinchou (38/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Beak of the Turtle: (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

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

宜

開訂祭
倉婚祀
出納祈
財采福
安裁求
牀衣嗣
牧上會
養樑友
痕水
三土牛
喪府口

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Positioning Beds
Raising Livestock

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Ox Mouth
Soil Palace
Three Mournings

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
人 州

Person, Landmass
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚

厠 灶

Kitchen
Toilet, Stove