China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-05

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
五
日

三期星

Ninth Month, Fifth Day  
Tuesday, September 5

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三民時
陰合日德

Timely Exemplarity
Peopled Days
Three Linkages
Timely Yin

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

亥未卯
中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
成除問結
服靈卜網

Binding Nets
Divinatory Inquiries
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
庚
子
土
箕
定

Twenty-Sixth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (36/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安交出祭
門易行祀
作修裁祈
灶造衣福
修動移入
倉土徙學
納上開會
畜樑市友
日復
俱重死四
將喪氣忌

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments 

Repeated Days

Baleful Asterisms

Four Taboos
Death Vapor
Repeat Mourning
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

丫

Bifurcation
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination