China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/10...............................................................................................................8/3

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
九
日

四期星

Eighth Month, Ninth Day  
Thursday, August 9

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天合歲
將德日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Heavenly Exemplarity
Not General

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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.
                             —————————————————

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

忌
作塞補詞
灶穴垣訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Embellishing Embankments
Plugging-up Caves
Stove Work

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八
癸
友
金
斗
除

Twenty-Eighth Day Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" is repeated, as it is today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安修納祭
門造采祀
納動裁祈
畜土衣福
成上理求
服樑髮嗣
安修掃訂
葬倉舎婚
池咸
元雞大大
武口敗時
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Patterning Hair

Sweeping Rooms

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Doors

Livestock Payments

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Widespread Pond

Baleful Asterisms

Great Temporality
Great Defeat
Chicken Mouth
Primal Martiality

 ————

Section Seven

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門
牀 房

Gate, Bed, Edifice