China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-27

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/1.................................................................................................................8/25

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
廿
七

一期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day  
Monday, August 27

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲德歲
合支日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Day
Generational Branch 
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中中吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
動穿造合
土井酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Boring Wells
Moving Soil

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
七
辛
卯
木
張
危

Seventeenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

詞立訂祭
訟約婚祀
針交裁祈
灸 易衣福
成安合求
服牀帳嗣
安置理會
葬產髮友
符土
俱朱五水
將雀虛痕

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Linking Sails
Patterning Hair
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Positioning Beds
Setting-up Production
Lawsuits and Litigation
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Soil Palace

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar
Five Voids
Vermilion Bird
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門
灶 廚

Gate
Stove, Kitchen