China's Lunar Calendar 2018 03-21

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

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/21....................................................3/17.................Monthly Calendar Information

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.

                                   ***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation***   

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
廿
一

三期星

Third Month, Twenty-First Day 
Wednesday, March 21

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天陽母
恩德倉

Maternal Granary
Yang Virtue
Heavenly Kindness

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

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 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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
問放開
卜水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Inquiring-into Fortune

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
壬

子
木

箕
收

Fifth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renzi (49/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

分春
十零子
五時正
分       
宜

補交理
塞易髮
栽納立
種財約
至鳥玄
班下月
煞兀忌

————

Spring Equinox
(the fourth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Patterning Hair
Setting-up Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Capital Output
Patching and Plugging
Planting and Cultivating

Swallows Return
(the tenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)


 Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Lower Amputee
Classified Balefulness
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
丫 天

Bifurcation, Heaven
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
倉
碓 庫

Granary
Pestle, Storehouse 
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation***