China's Lunar Calendar 2013 12-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT December 31............................................................................................December 23 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
六
四期星

  Twelfth Month, Twenty-sixth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, December 26

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

相時
日德

Temporal Virtue
Facing Days

—————————————————

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

凶凶吉

酉己丑

吉中中
戌午寅

中凶吉

亥未卯

凶中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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

祭作
祀灶
Stove Work

Venerating Ancestors

————————————————— 

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
丙
寅
火
角
滿

Twenty-fourth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Horn (1/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————————————————— 

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

宜

動出
土行
上納
樑采
安開
葬市

解角麋

天歸
狗忌

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Graves

Elk Break Antlers
(the sixty-fifth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods on the solar calendar)

Miscellaneous Information  

Return Taboo
Heavenly Canine

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

白 水
White, Water
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

(Top to bottom; right to left)

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove