China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/9.................................................................................................................9/2

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
三
日

一期星

Ninth Month, Third Day  
Monday, September 3

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

母合天歲
倉日德德

Generational Exemplarity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Linked Days
Maternal Granary

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
行除置買
喪服業田

Buying Land
Setting-up Production
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
戊
虛
木
心
滿

Twenty-Fourth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuxu (35/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

修交嫁會
倉易取友
補修裁出
塞造衣行
栽動移訂
種土徙婚
安上開納
葬樑市裁
喪三
招厭下大
  搖對兀亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Patching and Plugging
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Three Mournings

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio

 ————

Section Seven

白 水

White, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 牀 房

Perch, Bed, Edifice