China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-29

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
九

三期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day  
Wednesday, August 29

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天歲合歲
德祿日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Generational Emolument
Heavenly Exemplarity

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

亥未卯
凶凶吉

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
成除遠詞
服靈行訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
癸
巳
水
軫
收

Nineteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guisi (30/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安修納祭
牀造采祀
補動嫁祈
捉土娶福
栽上裁會
種樑衣友
納開移訂
畜倉徙婚
不債
河劫重四
  魁倉日祥不

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Beds
Seizing and Capturing
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Four Fortune-Nots
Doubled Days
Plundered Balefulness
Water Stalwart

 ————

Section Seven

白 神

White, Spirit
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 房 占

Bed, Edifice, Divination