China's Lunar Calendar 2015 10-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/12...................................................................................................................10/6

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
十
一

日期星

Tenth Month, Eleventh Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, October 11

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生時歲
恩氣陽德
Generational Virtue
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness

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

中吉凶
戌午寅
凶吉凶

亥未卯
中吉中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
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
田伐安結
獵木牀網
Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Felling Timber
Field Venery

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿

九
庚
申
木
虛
開
Twenty-Ninth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Void (11/28)

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

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

宜
上開裁祭
樑市衣祀
置交移祈
產易徙福
開修理入
渠造髮學
穿動醫出
井土病行
對厭
五招八密
離搖專日

————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Setting-up Production
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells

Mutual Repression

Baleful Astral Influences

Secret Days
Eight Specialties
Rollicking Braggadocio
Five Separations

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白
White

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle