China's Lunar Calendar 2014 06-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/9............................................................................................................................6/2

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
六
日

五期星

Sixth Month, Sixth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, June 6

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月四歲
將恩相馬

Generational Horse
Four Facings
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

酉己丑

中吉吉
戌午寅
中中凶

亥未卯

中吉中

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

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

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

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
修安置買
倉牀業田
Buying Land
Setting-up Industry
Positioning Beds
Repairing Granaries

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
九
戊
申
土
鬼
滿

Ninth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Ghost (23/28)

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

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

種芒
零二丑
三時正
  分         
宜
上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
補動移出
塞土徙行
生螂螳
天五孤五
狗虛辰離

Grain In Ear
(the eighth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Patching and Plugging

Mantids Hatch
(the twenty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Fox Dawn
Five Vacancies
Heavenly Canine

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人 地
Person, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

爐 牀 房
Furnace, Bed, Edifice