China's Lunar Calendar 2017 04-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/25..................................................................................................................4/19

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
二
十

四期星

Fourth Month, Twentieth Day

Thursday, April 20

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德天合歲
合月日德

Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Heavenly Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中中吉
酉己丑
吉吉中
戌午寅

凶吉中
亥未卯
吉凶凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
取田整理
魚獵甲髮
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
丁
丑
水
斗
收
Twenty-Fourth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Dipper (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

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

雨穀
分廿五卯
    七時初
宜

上移嫁會
梁徙娶友
安動納出
葬土采行
始生萍
五伏暗寡
虛斷金宿
————

Corn Rain
At the beginning of the mao hour; 5:27 o'clock
(the sixth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the lunar calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Graves

Floating Weeds Appear
(the sixteenth of seventy-two five-day micro-periods on the solar calendar)

 Baleful Astral Influences

Orphan Hostel
Dark Metal
Prostrate Separation
Five Voids

———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 神

White, Spirit
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary