China's Lunar Calendar 2018 03-23

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/29..............................................................................................................3/22

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
三

五期星

Third Month, Twenty-Third Day 
Friday, March 23

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

五王月
富日德

Lunar Virtue
Kingly Days
Five Abundances

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
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
祭出開
祀財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Venerating Ancestors

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
七
甲

寅
水
女
閉

Seventh Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ox (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

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

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

作交入
灶易學
栽修訂
種造婚
成動裁
服土衣
安安開
葬門市
痕水
陰歸血
將忌支

————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

 Baleful Astral Influences

Blood Branch
Return Taboo
Yin General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白 地

White, Earth
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
占
爐 門 

Divination
Furnace, Gate 
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation***