China's Lunar Calendar 2018 05-08

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/14.................................................................................................................5/7

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

二期星

Fifth Month, Eighth Day 
Tuesday, May 8

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吠兵天月
對吉馬德

Lunar Virtue
Heavenly Horse
Army Auspiciousness
Direct Barking

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
凶凶中

亥未卯
凶吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 In-Between
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 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

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
取田問結
魚獵卜網

Binding Nets
Divinatory Questions
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
庚
子
土
翌
危

Twenty-Third Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

***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

修移訂祭
倉徙婚祀
安修納祈
牀造采福
作動嫁會
灶土娶友
安上裁出
葬樑衣行
虛五
陰白天月
將虎吏忌

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Bed
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Heavenly Official
White Tiger
Yin General
————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
白 火

White, Fire
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
磨 碓 占

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