China's Lunar Calendar 2018 04-08

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/15..............................................................................................................4/8

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.

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

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
八
日

日期星

Fourth Month, Eighth Day 
Sunday, April 8

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三歲
德合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Timely Virtue

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

亥未卯
中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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.
                             —————————————————

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
進新結
水船網

Binding Nets
New Boats
Entering Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
庚
戊
土

星
滿

Twenty-Third Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

***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

安裁祭
牀衣祀
伐理會
木髮友
除開出
服市行
安交訂
葬易婚
痕水
灾月下
煞忌兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Positioning Beds
Felling Timber
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Lunar Taboo
Disastrous Balefulness
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
人 水

Person, Water
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
占
磨 碓

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