China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/28..............................................................................................................9/21

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
五

三期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day 
Wednesday, September 25

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天金母合月
恩堂倉日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Maternal Granary
Golden Hall
Heavenly Kindness

————

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

亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
行成除時栽
喪服靈插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
乙
丑
金
軫
定

Twenty-Seventh Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

安上移訂祭
牀樑徙婚祀
作修修納祈
灶倉灶采福
納醞動嫁會
畜釀土娶友
安安堅裁出
葬門柱衣行
不債
俱復死楊小
 將喪氣忌亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Erecting Pillars

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Gates

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Poplar Taboo
Death Vapor
Repeat Mourning
Everything General

Section Seven 
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

厠磨碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle