China's Lunar Calendar 2014 07-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/18..........................................................................................................................7/10

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

二

六期星

Seventh Month, Twelfth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, July 12

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天歲歲
德德馬德

Generational Virtue
Generational Horse
Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue

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

吉吉凶

戌午寅
中凶凶
亥未卯

中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
田安出開
獵牀財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Positioning Beds
Heavenly Venery

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
六
甲
申
水
氐
除

Sixteenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Foundation (3/28)

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

—————————————————  

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

宜

作掃嫁祭
灶舍娶祀
栽修納祈
種造采福
納動移入
畜土徙學
安上開會
葬樑市友
壁居蟀蟋
劫五孤猴
煞虛辰口

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Positioning Beds

Crickets Appear in Walls
(the thirty-second of seventy-two solar micro-periods in the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Monkey Mouth
Orphan Dawn
Five Voids
Plundered Balefulness

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination