China's Lunar Calendar 2018 01-13

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-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
三

六期星

First Month, Thirteenth Day 
Saturday, January 13

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉四德天
堂相合月

Heavenly Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
Four Facings
Jade Palace

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

吉中中
亥未卯
凶凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
除遠時栽
服行插種

Planting and Cultivating
 Timely Injections
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七

乙
巳
火

柳
定
Twenty-Seventh Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

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

宜

倉修納祭
出造采祀
貨動嫁祈
財土娶福
作上裁會
灶樑衣友
納開移訂
畜開徙婚
不債
厭死重上
對氣日兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Moving Commodities
Stove Repairs
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Doubled Days
Death Vapor
Mutual Repression

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle