China's Lunar Calendar 2014 07-18

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

八

五期星

Seventh Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, July 18

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十金歲
靈匱祿

Generational Emolument
Golden Cupboard
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

中中凶

戌午寅
凶吉吉
亥未卯

中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
祈祭結
福祀綱
Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

—————————————————  
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
二

庚
寅
木
牛
危

Twenty-second Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element):  Wood

Constellation: Ox (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

—————————————————  

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

伏初
宜

安訂入
牀婚學
除理會
服髮友
安開出
葬市行
星火
天游虎
廢休禍口 

Beginning Prostration
(the first of three ten-day periods denoting the hottest period of the year)

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Patterning Hair

Opening Markets

Positioning Beds

Discarding Clothing

Positioning Graves

Fire Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Tiger Mouth
Natatorial Disaster
Heavenly Abandonment-Cessation

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人

Person
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
碓
爐 磨

Pestle

Furnace, Mortar