China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/17...............................................................................................................5/10

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
十
三

一期星

Fifth Month, Thirteenth Day
Monday, May 13

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十解金月
靈神匱德
Lunar Exemplarity
Golden Cupboard
Unleashing Spirits
Ten Linkages

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

亥未卯
凶吉中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
作合裁結
灶帳衣網

Binding Nets
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Linking Canopies
Stove Work

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
庚
戌
金
心
執

Ninth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengxu (47/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

捕醫納祭
捉病采祀
栽修嫁祈
種造娶福
成動移會
服土徙友
安上理訂
葬樑髮婚
星長
陰天小火
將賊耗星
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements

Grain payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Physician Visits

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Seizing and Capturing

Planting and Cultivating

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Long Star


Baleful Astral Influences

Fire Star
Small Squander
Heavenly Thief
Yin General

Section Seven
人 地

Person, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle