China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/7.................................................................................................................1/31

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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying 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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
七
日

三期星

Second Month, Seventh Day 
Wednesday, February 7

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

民時三歲
日德合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Timely Virtue
Peopled Days

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

凶吉吉
亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
成除動結
服靈土網

Binding Nets
Moving Soil
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二

庚

午
土
參
定
Twenty-Second Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth
Constellation: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

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

宜
安移訂祭
門徙婚祀
醞開納祈
釀市采福
納交嫁會
畜易娶友
安上裁出
葬樑衣行
囊地
死復馬下
氣喪口兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Fermenting Liquor

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Earth Duffel

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Equine Mouth
Repeat Mourning
Death Star
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
人 火

Person, Fire
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination