China's Lunar Calendar 2018 08-31

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
卅
一

五期星

Eighth Month, Thirty-First Day  
Friday, August 31

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不玉母
將堂倉

Maternal Granary
Jade Palace
Not General

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

亥未卯
吉中吉

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 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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
針時栽
灸插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
一
乙
未
金
亢
閉

Twenty-First Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiwei (32/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

作嫁祭
灶娶祀
補開出
塞市行
除動訂
服土婚
安上納
葬樑裁
虛五
月血羊
煞支口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Patching and Plugging
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Beds

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

Goat Mouth
Blood Branch
Lunar Balefulness

 ————

Section Seven

人 山

Person, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
厠 磨

Pestle
Toilet, Mortar