China's Lunar Calendar 2018 11-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/7............................................................................................................10/30

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
七
日

三期星

Eleventh Month, Seventh Day  
Tuesday, November 7

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲合歲
日支日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

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


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

15:00-17:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
進新穿詞
水船井訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Boring Wells
New Boats
Entering Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

三
十
癸
卯
金
壁
執

Thirtieth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guimao (40/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

冬立
三十戌
十九初
二時    
分       
宜

安動嫁祭
牀土娶祀
安上移出
葬樑徙行
冰始水
 咸小水大
 池耗痕亡空

 ————

Beginning of Winter
At the beginning of the xu hour; 19:32 o'clock
(the nineteenth of twenty-four fifteen day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Water Begins to Freeze
(the fifty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)  

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void
Water Scar
Small Squander
Widespread Pond

 ————

Section Seven

白 山

White, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
門 牀 房

Gate, Bed, Edifice