China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-14

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
四

三期星

Second Month, Fourteenth Day 
Wednesday, February 14

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天
將德

Heavenly Virtue
Not General

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

中吉中
亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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
動理
土髮

Patterning Hair
Moving Soil

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九

丁

丑
水
軫
閉

Twenty-Ninth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

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

宜
修祭
造祀
安裁
牀衣
補交
塞易
魚
陟
負
冰
土歸
符忌

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Cutting-out Clothing
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Positioning Beds
Patching and Plugging

Fish Swim Upstream, Breaking Ice
(the third of seventy-two five-day solar mini-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Return Mourning
Soil Charm
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白

White
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
厠 庫

Granary

Toilet, Storehouse