China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-12

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
二

一期星

Second Month, Twelfth Day 
Monday, February 12

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十五天
靈富貴

Heavenly Nobility
Five Wealths
Ten Spirits

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

中中吉
亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

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
除嫁栽
服娶種

Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七

乙

亥
火
張
收
Twenty-Seventh Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

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

宜
上納祭
樑采祀
開裁祈
倉衣福
作移會
灶徙友
納動出
畜土行
不債
陰河重
將魁日

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days
River Stalwart
Yin General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
丫 州

Bifurcation, Landmass
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
牀 磨

Pestle
Bed, Mortar