China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-24

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/25..................................................12/22..........Monthly Calendar Information

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
廿
四
三期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, December 24

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

五合歲
富日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Five Wealths

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

中中凶

戌午寅
中凶吉
亥未卯

凶中吉

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

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

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

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
進新遠
水船行
Distant Journeys
New Boats
Entering Water

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
三
己

巳
木

軫
執

Third Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (6/60)

Phase (element): Wood

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
安动祭
門土祀
捕上修
捉樑置
田修產
獵廚室
安作修
碓灶造
痕水
元劫重
武煞日

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Repairing Rooms
Setting-up Production
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Seizing and Capturing
Field Venery
Positioning Pestles

Water Scar

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days

Plundered Balefulness

Primal Martiality

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫
Bifurcation

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

占
牀 門

Divination
Bed, Gate