China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/15.................................................................................................................2/8

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
八
日

四期星

Second Month, Eighth Day 
Thursday, February 8

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合月麒
日德麟

Unicorn
Lunar Virtue
 Linked Days

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

中吉吉
亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
進新合
水船醬

Mixing Sauces
New Boats
 Putting-into Water

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三

辛

未
土
井
執
Twenty-Third Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

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

宜
動嫁祭
土娶祀
上納祈
樑采福
安移會
牀徙友
安掃出
葬舎行
痕水
陽小月
將耗忌

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Small Squander
Yang General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
人 山

Person, Fire
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

廚
厠 灶

Kitchen
Toilet, Stove