China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/15................................................8/11.....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.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
十
二

日期星

Eighth Month, Twelfth Day  
Sunday, August 12

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

福三民時
生合日德

Timely Exemplarity
Peopled Days
Three Linkages
Fortunate Engenderment

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

亥未卯
吉中中

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
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
進新作修
水船灶廚

Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
New Boats
Entering Water

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
丙
子
水
虛
定

Second Day Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
釀交娶祭
修易納祀
倉修采祈
安造裁福
門動衣會
成土移友
服上徙出
安樑開行
葬醞市嫁

俱死密觸
 將氣日龍水
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Gates
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms

Stirring-up Dragon-Water
Secret Days
Death Vapor
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

白

White
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen