China's Lunar Calendar 2018 04-16

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

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/20..................................................4/16........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-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.

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
十
六

一期星

Fourth Month, Sixteenth Day 
Monday, April 16

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生天歲
氣赦德

Generational Virtue
Heavenly Amnesty
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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.
                             —————————————————

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
祭置買
祀業田

Buying Land
Setting-up Industry
Venerating Ancestors

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
戊
寅
土
心

開

First Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuyin (15/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

  動納入
土采學
上移會
樑徙友
安醫出
牀病行
納開嫁
畜市娶
星長
復血虎
喪忌口

————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments

Long Star

Baleful Astral Influences

Tiger Mouth
Blood Taboo
Repeat Taboo
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白 火

White, Fire
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
房
爐 牀

Edifice
Furnace, Bed
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation***