China's Lunar Calendar 2018 05-29

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

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

二期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day 
Tuesday, May 29

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三民天
陰合日德

Heavenly Virtue
People's Days
Three Linkages
Timely Yin

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
中吉吉

亥未卯
凶中凶

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

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 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
娶田造合
魚獵酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
辛
酉
木
觜
定

Fifteenth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

***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

開交納祭
渠易采祀
穿修移祈
井造徙福
納動理出
畜土髮行
安上開嫁
葬樑市娶
氣死
陰朱下小
 將雀兀亡空

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
Vermilion Bird
Yin General
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 

Section Seven

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

Bifurcation, Copse
———— 

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

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen

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