China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-15

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
五

三期星

Eighth Month, Fifteenth Day  
Wednesday, August 15

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲
日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Days

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

亥未卯
凶吉吉

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

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 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

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
動穿
土井

Boring Wells
Moving Soil

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
己
卯
土
壁
危

Fifth Day Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
理祭
髮祀
開會
市友
納訂
財婚
成納
服采
土
符
朱月
雀忌

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair
Opening Markets
Tax Payments
Completing Clothing 

Soil Charm

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Taboo
Vermilion Bird

 ————

Section Seven

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

占
門 大

Divination
Gate, Great