China's Lunar Calendar 2016 03-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/20..................................................................................................................3/14

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
八

五期星

Third Month, Eighteenth Day

Astral Period Five
Friday, March 18

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天合月
醫喜日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician 
—————

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

戌午寅
中吉凶

凶吉吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

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
詞成除嫁
訟服靈娶
Marriage Alliances
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
Lawsuits and Litigation 

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
十
己
亥
木
亢
成
Tenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jihai (36/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
渠醫行祭
修病納祀
倉修采祈
作造裁福
造動衣入
栽土理學
種上髮會
納樑移友
畜開徙出

元刀重債
武砧日不

————
Appropriate Activities
 Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Repairing Granaries
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments 

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Doubled Days
Sword Anvil
Primal Martiality

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人

Person
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

牀 門 占

Bed, Gate, Divination