China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT August 27........................................................................................................August 20 RIGHT

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 calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar 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.

Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left) 
廿
三
五期星

  Eighth Month, Twenty-third Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, August 23

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Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

除陰吉
神德期

Auspicious Period
Yin Virtue
Expelling Spirits

—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子

中吉中

酉己丑

凶吉中

戌午寅

中吉凶

亥未卯

凶中凶

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
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

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.

————————————————— 

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

忌

補造合
塞酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Patching Holes

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
七
辛
酉
木
婁
除

Seventeenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Tower (16/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————————————————— 

Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information) 
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

___________________________
暑處
零七辰
二時初
分       
___________________________
 宜

成動理
服土髮
安上掃
葬樑舍
___________________________
 鳥祭乃應 
___________________________
 陰咸五
將池離

Stopping of Heat
At the beginning of the chen hour—7:02 a.m.
(the fourteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day periods in the solar calendar)  

Appropriate Activities  

Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Putting-together Clothing
Positioning Graves

Raptors Sacrifice Birds
(the fortieth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods in the solar calendar) 

Miscellaneous Information

Five Separations
All-Encompassing Pool
Yin General

————  

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 人
White, Person

—————————————————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left)
廚

門 灶

Kitchen
Gate, Stove