China's Lunar Calendar 2013 09-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT September 8.................................September 5.....Monthly Calendar Information 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) 
七
日
六期星

  Ninth Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, September 7

———————————————— 
Section Two

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)

月時時歲
空陰德祿

Generational Emolument
Timely Virtue
Timely Yin
Lunar Vacancy

—————————————————

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

中凶吉

酉己丑

吉吉吉

戌午寅

吉凶凶

亥未卯

凶中中

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

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

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

進新作修
水船灶廚

Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
New Boats
Entering Water

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
三
丙
子
水
氏
定

Third Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi(13/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Base (3/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————————————————— 

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

露白
十十戌
六九初
分時    
宜

開動嫁祭
倉土娶祀
安上移出
葬樑徙行
來雁鴻
俱死小債
 將氣亡空不

White Dew
The beginning of the xu hour: 19:16 o'clock
(the fifteenth of twenty-four solar periods in the solar calendar)

Appropriate Activities  

Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Graves

Wild Geese Come
 (the forty-third of seventy-two five-day mini-periods in the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

Debt Not
Small Vacancy-Loss
Death Vapor
Entirely General

————  

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白
White

—————————————————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

(Top to bottom; right to left)
碓 灶 廚

Pestle
Stove, Kitchen