China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/10...............................................................................................................8/03

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.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
三
日

五期星

Eighth Month, Third Day  
Friday, August 3

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲德歲
合支日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Day

Generational Branch 

Six Linkages

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中凶吉
酉巳丑
凶中凶
戌午寅
中吉吉

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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.
                             —————————————————

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

忌
開穿整理
池井甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
丁
卯
火
亢
成

Twenty-Second Day Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

動醫嫁祭
土病娶祀
上開納入
樑市采學
納交裁會
畜易衣友
安修移出
葬造徙行
煞班
俱大兔天
 將煞口廢休
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Livestock Payments
Positioning Beds

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Heavenly Abandon-Respite
Rabbit Mouth
Great Balefulness
Everything General

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
人

Person

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門 庫 倉

Gate, Storehouse, Granary