China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/15.........................................................................................................................8/8

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
三

三期星

Eighth Month, Thirteenth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, August 13

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天金
靈喜匱
Golden Cupboard-bare
Heavenly Happiness
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

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

吉吉中

戌午寅
凶中凶
亥未卯

吉中中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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
針作修
灸灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

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

十
八
丙
辰
土
箕
成

Eighteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingchen (53/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Winnowing Basket (7/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

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

宜

安裁祭
門衣祀
入上祈
倉樑福
伐築入
木堤學
成安訂
服牀婚
降露白
月債下
厭不兀

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Putting-up Beams
Constructing Dikes
Positioning Beds
Positioning Doors
Entering Granaries
Felling Timber
Completing Clothing

White Dew Descends
(the thirty-eighth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Debt Not
Lunar Repression

————

  Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 地
White, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
廚
栖 灶
Kitchen
Perch, Stove