China's Lunar Calendar 2018 04-29

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/6.................................................................................................................4/29

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
九

日期星

Fourth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day 
Sunday, April 29

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲
日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days

————

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

亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
穿合
井醬

Mixing Sauces
Boring Wells

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
辛
卯
木
昂
閉

Fourteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"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

塞祭
穴祀
成裁
服衣
化理
靈髮
安補
葬垣
上
兀
血月
支忌

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves
Completing Cothing
Transforming Spirits
Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Blood Branch
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
廚
門 灶

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