China's Lunar Calendar 2015 10-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/5...................................................................................................................9/27

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
一十
日月

四期星

Tenth Month, First Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, October 1

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天月歲
靈貴德德
Generational Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Heavenly Nobility
Ten Spirits

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

中中凶
戌午寅
凶吉中

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
行成除結
喪服靈網
Making Nets
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
九
庚
戌
金
角
除
Nineteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengxu (47/60)

Phase (element): Metal

Constellation: Horn (1/28)

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

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

宜
上理訂祭
樑髮婚祀
修掃納祈
倉舍采福
栽修嫁會
種造移出
葬土徙行
星短
俱血三債
將忌喪不 

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Households

Patterning Hair

Sweeping Floors

Repairing and Building

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Short Star
  
Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Three Mournings
Blood Taboo
Everything General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白
White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

栖 磨 碓
Perch, Mortar, Pestle