China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/7.........................................................................................................................7/31

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

六期星

Eighth Month, Second Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, August 2

———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時玉
氣陽堂
Jade Hall
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor

—————————————————

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

吉凶凶

戌午寅
吉中中
亥未卯

凶中中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 In-Between
05:00-07:00 In-Between

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

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
除遠栽
服行種
Planting and Cultivating
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

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

初
七
乙
巳
火
柳
開

Seventh Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Willow (24/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

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

夕七
————
宜
安納祭
門采祀
作裁入
灶衣學
牧理會
養髮友
————
行時雨大
————
月重水
厭日痕

Seventh Evening
(7/7—the day to commemorate the yearly meeting of the herdboy and weaving maiden)


Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Grain Payments
Putting-together Clothing
Patterning Hair
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Raising Livestock

Great Rains Sweep Through
(the thirty-sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)
Note that it is usually written 大雨始行

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Doubled Days
Lunar Repression

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 林
White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
碓
牀 磨

Kitchen

Bed, Mortar