China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-21

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
一

二期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-First Day  
Tuesday, August 21

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不陰
將德

Yin Exemplarity
Not General

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

亥未卯
中中凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
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
進新
水船

New Boats
Entering Water

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
一
乙
酉
水
觜
除

Eleventh Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
安祭
門祀
除理
服髮
修整
墳甲
安掃
葬舎
債
不
咸水
池痕

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Sweeping Rooms
Positioning Beds
Discarding Clothing
Repairing Tombs
Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar
Widespread Pond

 ————

Section Seven

人 人

Person, Person
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
門 磨

Pestle
Gate, Mortar