China's Lunar Calendar 2015 09-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/3..................................................................................................................8/26

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
三
日

四期星

Ninth Month, Third Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, September 3

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生月六歲
氣德合支
Generational Branch
Six Linkages
Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor

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

中吉凶

戌午寅
中中凶
亥未卯
吉吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
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
塔苫放開
厠蓋水渠
Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
一
壬
午
木
角
開
Twenty-First Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Horn (1/28)

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

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

宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
修交嫁祈
倉易娶福
置修納入
產造采學
納動移會
畜土徙友
登乃禾
白灾班馬
虎煞煞口

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Setting-up Production
Livestock Payments

Rice Ripens
(the forty-second of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Horse Mouth
Classified Balefulness
Disastrous Balefulness
White Tiger

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
人 火

Person, Fire

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Section Eight

Miscellaneous

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary