China's Lunar Calendar 2018 01-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/30.................................................................................................................1/22

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
廿
八

日期星

First Month, Twenty-Eighth Day 
Sunday, January 28

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陽五月天
德富德德

Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Five Wealths
Yang Virtue

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

凶吉凶
亥未卯
中凶凶

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
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 Inauspicious
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
娶田安結
魚獵牀網

Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二

庚

申
木
虛
危
Twelfth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

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

宜
上開裁祭
樑市衣祀
作交移祈
灶易徙福
納修理會
畜造髮友
安動掃出
葬土舎行
將陽
游八五密
禍專離日

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Yang General

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days
Five Separations
Eight Specialties
Natatorial Disastser

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 火

White, Fire
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle