China's Lunar Calendar 2018 06-08

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

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⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/13..................................................................................................................6/6

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

五期星

Sixth Month, Eighth Day 
Friday, June 8

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六守合月
合日日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Protected Days
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中中吉

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

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Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
行除造合
喪服酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
辛
未
土
亢
除

Twenty-Fifth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

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Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
安交納祈
牀易采福
納修移會
畜造徙友
安動理出
葬土髮行
喪三
孤勾上短
辰陳兀星

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Short Star
Upper Amputee
Narrative Hook
Orphan Dawn
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Section Seven

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

White, Copse
———— 
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Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 灶 廚

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen

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