China's Lunar Calendar 2018 05-16

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/19.....................................................5/15.....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
十
六

三期星

Fifth Month, Sixteenth Day 
Wednesday, May 16

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲歲
馬德

Generational Virtue
Generational Horse

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

亥未卯
凶吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
安置
牀產

Setting-up Production

Positioning Beds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
戊
申
土
箕
平

Second Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Soil
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

————

***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

祭

祀

平

道

飾

垣

————

王

瓜

生
————
血五
忌虛

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Leveling Roads
Adorning Embankments

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Blood Taboo
————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Seven

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

White, Heaven
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
房
爐 牀

Edifice

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