China's Lunar Calendar 2014 09-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/15.........................................................................  ...........................................9/7

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
八
日

一期星

Ninth Month, Eighth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, September 8

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

天福四
恩生相

Four Facings
Fortunate Engendering

—————————————————

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

中吉吉

戌午寅
中中吉
亥未卯

吉吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
苫放開

蓋水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings

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

十
五

壬

午

木
心
收

Fifteenth Day Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu(19/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Heart (5/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)*
*Occasionally a "day personality" is repeated, as it is today.

—————————————————  

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

節秋
————
 露白
零一丑
一時初
分       
————
宜

捕理祭
捉髮祀
————
來雁鴻
————
咸火上
池行兀

————
(Mid-) Autumn Festival

White Dew
At the beginning of the chou hour, 1:01 AM
(the fifteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Patterning Hair
Seizing and Apprehending

Wild Geese Arrive
(the forty-third of seventy-two five-day solar mini-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Fire Star
Widespread Pond

————
  
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白鬼
White, Ghost
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

倉
碓 庫

Kitchen
Bed, Stove