China's Lunar Calendar 2019 07-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/23.................................................................................................................7/16

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
六

二期星

Seventh Month, Sixteenth Day 
Tuesday, July 16

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲天歲
合支德德
Generational Exemplarity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
祈祭出開
福祀行倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
甲
寅
水
室
危

Fourteenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安修裁會
牀造衣友
作動移出
灶土徙行
栽上開嫁
種樑市娶
安修交納
葬倉易采
兀上
陽游八月
將禍專忌
 ————

Auspicious Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Eight Specialties 
Natatorial Calamity
Yang General

Section Seven
丫

Bifurcation

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination