China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/11..............................................................................................................9/4

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

六期星

Ninth Month, Seventh Day 
Saturday, September7

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

金合月
堂日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Golden Hall

————

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
針整理
灸甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
丁
未
水
女
閉

Ninth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

補修祭
塞造祀
捕動入
捉土學
牧上訂
養樑婚
除築移
服提徙
虛五
陰月血
將煞支

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Marriage Engagements
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Constructing Dikes
Patching and Plugging
Seizing and Capturing
Raising Livestock
Discarding Clothing

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Blood Branch
Lunar Balefulness
Yin General

Section Seven
人 山

Person, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

倉
厠 庫

Granary
Toilet, Storehouse