China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/24.................................................................................................................8/16

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
六

四期星

Eighth Month, Sixteenth Day  
Thursday, August 16

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天
恩喜

Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Kindness

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

亥未卯
吉吉中

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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
除結
服網

Binding Nets
Discarding Clothing

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
六
庚
辰
金
奎
成

Sixth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
掃
舎
伐
木
重歲
喪破
復下
日兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Sweeping Rooms
Felling Timber

Baleful Asterisms

Generational Destruction
Lower Amputee
Repeat Mourning
Repeated Days

 ————

Section Seven

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
栖 磨

Pestle
Perch, Mortar