China's Lunar Calendar 2014 09-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/6.........................................................................  ...........................................8/30

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

三期星

Ninth Month, Third Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, September 3

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

明母合月
堂倉日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
 Maternal Granary
Luminous Hall

—————————————————

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

吉吉中

戌午寅
中吉凶
亥未卯

吉凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
田移整理
獵徙甲髮

Patterning Hair
 Trimming Nails
Moving Households
Field Venery

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

初

十

丁

丑

水
軫
執

Tenth Day Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Running Board (28/28)

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

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

宜
倉修婚祭
捕造納祀
捉動采祈
栽土嫁福
種豎娶會
納柱裁友
畜上衣出
安樑醫行
葬修病訂

俱歸小
將忌耗

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Physician Visits
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Seizing and Apprehending
Planting and Cultivating 
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Squander
Return Taboo
Everything General

————
  
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人
Person
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary