China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/25...............................................................................................................5/18

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
廿
四

五期星

Fifth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day
Friday, May 24

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

要三民天
安合日德
Heavenly Exemplarity
Peopled Days
Three Linkages
Urgent Calm

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

亥未卯
凶中凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
取田造合
魚獵酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Field Venery (Hunting)
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二
十
辛
酉
木
婁
定

Twentieth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

渠交采祭
穿易嫁祀
井修娶祈
修造移福
倉動徙出
納土理行
畜上髮訂
安樑開婚
葬開市納 

陰朱死五
將雀氣離
 ————

Appropriate Activities*
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements*
Grain Payments 
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves
*In a clear mistake, today's calendar has confused the 
character order for marriage engagements and grain payments.

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Death Vapor
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

Section Seven
人 林

Person, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen