China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/2/2015..........................................................................................................................12/26

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
九
一期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day

Astral Period One
Monday, December 29

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月時生歲
恩陽氣德

Generational Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Timely Yang
Lunar Kindness

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

中吉吉

戌午寅
中凶吉
亥未卯
中吉吉

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
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
伐修出開
木倉財倉
Opening Granaries
Cash Outflow
Repairing Granaries
Felling Timber

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
八
甲
戌

火

心
開

Eighth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Heart-Mind (5/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

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

宜
作修訂祭
灶造婚祀
置動納祈
產土采福
栽上裁入
種樑衣學
穿安開會
井門市友
兀下
九天往五
空刑亡虛

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
 Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Setting-up Production
Planting and Cultivating
Boring Wells

Lower Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Toward Loss
Heavenly Punishment
Nine Vacancies

————

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
人 火
Person, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

栖 碓 門

Perch, Pestle, Gate