China's Lunar Calendar 2016 04-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/11....................................................4/7..........Monthly Calendar Information

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
八
日

五期星

Fourth Month, Eighth Day

Astral Period Four
Friday, April 8

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除月三
神恩合

Three Linkages
Lunar Kindness
Expelling Spirits

————

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

戌午寅
凶吉凶
亥未卯 

中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 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
取安結
魚牀網
Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Garnering Fish 

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

初
二
庚
申
木
鬼
定
Second Day Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
開修沐
生齋浴
基建掃
成醮舍
除漆安
服棺門
安移納
葬徙畜
氣死
月四上
厭廢兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Floors
Positioning Gates
Grain Payments
Reverential Fasting 
Sacrificial Offerings
Lacquering Coffins
Moving Graves 
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves 

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Four Abandonments
Lunar Repression

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

碓
爐 磨  

Pestle
Furnace, Mortar