China's Lunar Calendar 2014 07-03

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
三

日

四期星

Seventh Month, Third Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, July 3

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十德歲
靈日支

Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

中凶吉

戌午寅
中中吉
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 In-Between
09:00-11:00 Inauspicious
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.

————————————————— 

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

忌
除嫁栽
服娶種
Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初

七
乙
亥
火
井
執

Seventh Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Well (22/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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

宜
動出祭
土行祀
上理祈
樑髮福
捕沐入
捉浴學
作移會
灶徙友
日重
朱水下
雀痕兀

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Bathing and Bubbling
Moving Households
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Seizing and Apprehending
Stove Work

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Water Scar
Vermilion Bird

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 山

White, Mountain
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
碓
牀 磨

Pestle 
Bed, Mortar