China's Lunar Calendar 2014 10-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/23........................................................................................................................10/15

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

六期星

Tenth Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, October 18

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

(top to bottom, right to left)

守三歲
日合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Protected Days

—————————————————

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

吉中吉

戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯

吉吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
行動開
喪土渠
Opening Sluices

Moving Soil

Mourning Visits

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

廿
五
壬

戌
水

胃
建

Twenty-Fifth Day Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renxu  (59/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Stomach (17/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
上訂祭

樑婚祀

開納祈

倉采福

安裁會

牀衣友

納移出

畜徙行
華黃有菊
三土犬
喪府口

————
Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Households

Putting-up Beams

Opening Granaries

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Chrysanthemums Are Tinged Yellow
(the fifty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Dog Mouth

Earth Palace

Three Mournings
————

  
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 天
White, Heaven
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information

倉

栖 庫

Granary
Perch, Storehouse