China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-10

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
十
日

六期星

Second Month, Tenth Day 
Saturday, February 10

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

陰合歲
德日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Yin Virtue

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

中中吉
亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
合裁詞
帳衣訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Cutting-out Clothing
Binding Sails

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五

癸

酉
金
柳
危
Twenty-Fifth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Ghost (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

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

宜
上理祭
樑髮祀
開掃祈
倉舎福
作移入
灶居學
安動出
葬土行
星短
俱天五
將吏虛

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Households
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Short Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Vacancies
Heavenly Official
Everything General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白 人

White, Person
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

房
門 牀

Edifice
Gate, Bed