China's Lunar Calendar 2016 03-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/8..............................................................................................................3/1

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
六
日

日期星

Third Month, Sixth Day

Astral Period Sun
Sunday, March 6

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天母
恩醫喜倉

Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness
—————

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

戌午寅
吉吉凶

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
成除嫁理
服靈娶髮
Patterning Hair
Marriage Alliances
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing 

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
八
丁
亥
土
昂
成
Twenty-Eighth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

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

宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
修交納祈
倉易采福
作修移人
灶造徙學
納動醫會
畜土病友
日重
元無上四
  武祿兀祥不

————
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Stove Work
Livestock Payments   

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fortune-Nots
Upper Amputee
Without Emolument
Primal Martiality

 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫

Bifurcation
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 庫 倉

Bed, Storehouse, Granary