China's Lunar Calendar 2018 01-29

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
九

一期星

First Month, Twenty-NInth Day 
Monday, January 29

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天母鳳
醫喜倉凰

Phoenix
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

中吉吉
亥未卯
中凶凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
詞造造合
訟醋酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Making Vinegar
Lawsuits and Litigation

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
三

辛

酉
木
危
成
Thirteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

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

宜
動理訂祭
土髮婚祀
上掃納祈
樑舎采福
納開嫁入
畜市娶學
安修移出
葬造徙行
煞班
陽大四五
將煞耗離

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Four Squanderings
Great Balefulness
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 山

White, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen