China's Lunar Calendar 2014 03-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT March 21.........................................................................................................March 15 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
十

六
日期星

Third Month, Sixteenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, March 16

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不三歲
將合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Not General

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

吉凶凶

酉己丑
凶吉中
戌午寅
吉中吉

亥未卯

吉中吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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.

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

忌
吃作修
犬灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Canine Consumption

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
六
丙
戌
土
星
危

Sixteenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Asterism (25/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)
*A cyclical character in this jianchu pattern occasionally repeats, as it does today.

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

宜
安嫁祭
牀娶祀
補移祈
捉徙服
結修入
綱造學
栽動訂
種土婚
鳩為化鷹
月四密
煞擊日

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds
Seizing and Capturing
Binding Nets
Planting and Cultivating

Hawks Turn Into Doves
(the ninth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Miscellaneous Information

 Secret Days
Four Fisticuffs
Baleful Lunarity

Section Seven
(right to left)

Inauspicious Stars 
丫
BIfurcation
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
廚
栖 灶

Kitchen
Perch, Stove