China's Lunar Calendar 2018 03-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/16.....................................................................................................................3/9

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
一

日期星

Third Month, Eleventh Day 
Sunday, March 11

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十三歲
靈合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Ten Spirits

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

吉中吉
亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
祭放開
祀水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Venerating Ancestors

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
壬

寅

金
星
閉

Twenty-Fourth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renyin (39/60)

Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

補動裁
塞土衣
栽上立
種樑約
納安交
畜門易
安安修
葬牀造
忌歸
陰血下
將支兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Cutting-out Clothing
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Positioning Beds
Plugging and Patching
Planting and Cultivating
Grain Payments
Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Blood Branch
Yin General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白 地

White, Earth
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

倉

爐 庫

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse