China's Lunar Calendar 2014 11-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/21......................................................................................................................11/14

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
六
日期星

Eleventh Month, Sixteenth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, November 16

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不陰民鳳
將德日凰

Phoenix
Peopled Days
Yin Virtue
Not General

—————————————————

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

凶凶中

戌午寅
吉吉吉
亥未卯

中中吉

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

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between

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
開穿造合
池井酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
辛

卯
木

昂
定

Twenty-Fourth Day (Intercalary Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

—————————————————  

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

宜
樑開裁入
修市嫁學
倉交娶會
安易裁友
牀修衣出
成造移行
服動徙訂
安土理婚
葬上髮納

龍元死密
虎武氣日

————
Appropriate Activities 
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Secret Days
Death Vapor
Primal Martiality
Dragon Tiger

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 人
White, Person
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Information
門 灶 廚
Gate, Stove, Kitchen