China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-07

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/10...............................................................................................................8/3

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

二期星

Eighth Month, Seventh Day  
Tuesday, August 7

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月聖麒
恩心麟

Unicorn
Sagely Heart-Mind 
Lunar Kindness

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶中
酉巳丑
凶吉凶
戌午寅
中吉吉

亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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
行造合
喪酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
辛
未
土
尾
建

Twenty-Sixth Day Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (8/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail  (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

秋立
三廿亥
十一初
  一時     
分       

宜

開移出
倉徙行
安上訂
葬樑婚
至上凉
三土債
喪府不
 ————

Beginning of Autumn
At the beginning of the hai hour; 21:31 p.m.
(the thirteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Moving Residences
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Graves

Cool Winds Arrive
(the thirty-seventh of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Debt Not

Soil Palace

Three Mournings

 ————

Section Seven

丫 神

Bifurcation, Spirit
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

厠
廚 灶

Toilet
Kitchen, Stove