China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/15.................................................................................................................2/8

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
十
三

二期星

Second Month, Thirteenth Day 
Tuesday, February 13

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不月生月
將恩氣德

Lunar Virtue
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Not General

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

吉凶吉
亥未卯
吉吉中

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
伐動作修
木土灶廚

Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Moving Soil
Felling Timber

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八

丙

子
水
翌
開
Twenty-Eighth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

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

宜
上移出祭
樑徙行祀
置開嫁祈
產市娶福
納交納入
畜易采學
除修裁會
服造衣友
囊地
天班鼠下
火煞口兀

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Raising Beams

Setting-up Industry

Livestock Payments

Discarding Clothing

Earth Duffel

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee
Rat Mouth
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
丫

Bifurcation
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen