China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-10

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/13..............................................9/10................Monthly Calendar Information

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
十九
日日

一期星

Ninth Month, Tenth Day  
Monday, September 10

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天合月歲
喜日德祿

Generational Emolument
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Heavenly Happiness

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

亥未卯
凶中凶

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

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 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
行除遠栽
喪服行種

Planting and Cultivating
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
乙
巳
火
危
成

First Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
安交納祈
牀易采福
作修移入
灶造徙學
納動醫會
畜土病友
將陰
朱復無重
雀喪祿日

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Yin General

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days
Without Emolument
Repeat Mourning
Vermilion Bird

 ————

Section Seven

白  山

White, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle