China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-01

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
一九
日月

六期星

Ninth Month, First Day  
Saturday, September 1

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

王歲
日馬

Generational Horse
Kingly Days

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

亥未卯
吉吉中

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
安作
牀灶

Stove Work
Positioning Beds

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
丙
申
火
氐
建

Twenty-Second Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安出
門行
納納
畜采
除掃
服舎
安上
葬樑
短
星
土上
符兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Sweeping Rooms
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Livestock Payments
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Short Star

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee
Soil Palace

 ————

Section Seven

人 鬼

Person, Ghost
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove