China's Lunar Calendar 2014 07-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/9..........................................................................................................................7/2

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
二

日

三期星

Seventh Month, Second Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, July 2

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不三歲歲
將合支德

Generational Virtue
Generation Branch
Three Linkages
Not General

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

中吉吉

戌午寅
中凶吉
亥未卯

中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
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.

————————————————— 

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

忌
產修出開
室置財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Repairing Rooms*
Setting-up Factories*
*These characters seem to be juxtaposed (incorrectly).
I have translated them in the standard forms in which they usually appear.

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初

六
甲
戌
火
參
定

Sixth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Mix (21/28)

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

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

宜
修交嫁祭
倉易娶祀
安修納祈
門造采福
作動移入
灶土徙學
醞上開會
釀樑市友
生夏半
木天死
馬形氣

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Households

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Building

Moving Soil

Putting-up Beams

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Doors

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages 

Crowdipper Flourishes

(the thirtieth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Death Vapor
Heavenly Punishment
Wood Horse

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
栖 碓 門

Perch, Pestle, Gate