China's Lunar Calendar 2015 01-01

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
一一年一二

日月     五〇
四期星

First Month, First Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, January 1

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不寶合月
將光日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Precious Rays
Not General

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

吉吉中

戌午寅
中凶中
亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
行成除理
喪服靈髮
Patterning Hair
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
一
丁
丑

水

斗
除

Eleventh Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

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

宜
上掃嫁祭
樑舍娶祀
修開納祈
倉市采福
醞修移會
釀造徙友
安動醫出
葬土病行
動泉水
復三楊牛
喪喪忌口

————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Doctor Visits
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Positioning Graves

Spring Waters Move
(the sixty-sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Ox Mouth
Poplar Taboo
Three Mournings
Repeat Mourning

Section Seven

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

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary