China's Lunar Calendar 2014 09-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/23.........................................................................  ...........................................9/16

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

四期星

Ninth Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, September 18

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

不六母四
將合倉相

Four Facings
Maternal Granary
Six Linkages
Not General

—————————————————

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

吉吉吉

戌午寅
凶中吉
亥未卯

吉中凶

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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
築修放開
提倉水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Repairing Granaries
Constructing Dikes

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

廿
五

壬

辰

水
奎
危

Twenty-Fifth Day Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Astride (15/28)

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

—————————————————  

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

宜
動移訂祭
土徙婚祀
上開納祈
樑市采福
安交嫁入
牀易娶學
安修裁出
葬造衣行
羞養鳥群
天月月四
刑虛煞擊

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Flocks of Birds Gather Grain
(the forty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fisticuffs
Lunar Balefulness
Lunar Void
Heavenly Punishment 
————

  
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 火
White, Fire
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary