China's Lunar Calendar 2015 01-14

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/19..........................................................................................................................1/11

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
四

三期星

First Month, Fourteenth Day

Astral Period Three
Wednesday, January 14

———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月天歲
將德德祿

Generational Emolument
Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Not General

—————————————————

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

中中吉

戌午寅
凶吉吉
亥未卯
中凶吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
作祈祭結
灶福祀綱
Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Stove Work

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
庚
寅

土

參
除

Twenty-Fourth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Gathering (21/28)

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

—————————————————  

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

宜

動掃嫁會
土舍娶友
上開裁出
樑市衣行
安交移訂
牀易徙婚
安修理納
葬造髮采
星火
劫五孤上
煞虛辰兀

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

Fire Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Orphan Dawn
Five Voids
Plundered Balefulness

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白
White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle