China's Lunar Calendar 2015 12-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/10.................................................................................................................12/3

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

日

四期星

Twelfth Month, Tenth Day

Astral Period Four
Saturday, December 10

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天母歲
醫喜倉德

Generational Virtue
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician 

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

戌午寅
凶凶凶

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 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
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
穿動安結
井土牀網
Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil
Boring Wells

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿

九
庚
申
木
奎
成
Twenty-Ninth Day Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood

Constellation: Astride (15/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

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

宜
作開裁人
灶市衣學
醞交理會
釀易髮友
成竪移出
服柱徙行
安上醫納
葬樑病采
離五
陽大土大
  將煞符亡空

————
Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Moving Households
Treating Illness
Opening Markets
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Fermenting Beverages
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves  

Five Separations

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Soil Charm
Great Balefulness
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 地

White, Earth
————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

爐

磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle