China's Lunar Calendar 2014 06-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/1........................................................6/27...........................Monthly Information

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

九

日期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, June 29

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合月六歲
日德合支

Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Lunar Virtue
Linked Days

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Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉中凶
酉己丑

凶吉凶

戌午寅
中吉吉
亥未卯

中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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
行除造合
喪服酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初

三
辛
未
土
昂
除

Third Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)

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

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

宜
修掃嫁祭
倉舍娶祀
安修納祈
牀造采福
納動移會
畜土徙友
安上理出
葬樑髮行
忌楊
勾三密債
陳喪日不

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Mysterious Days
Three Mournings
Narrative Hook

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 林

White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
厠 灶 廚

Toilet, Stove, Kitchen