China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-13

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
三

四期星

Ninth Month, Thirteenth Day  
Thursday, September 13

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天歲歲
支馬德

Generational Exemplarity
Generational Equinity
Heavenly Amnesty

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

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 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
詞安置
訟牀產

Setting-up Industry
Positioning Beds
Lawsuits and Litigation

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
四
戊
申
土
奎
閉

Fourth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

補交嫁
塞易娶
栽築理
種堤髮
納修掃
畜倉舎
安醞立
葬釀約
歸鳥玄
血反長
支支星

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Constructing Dikes
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Patching and Plugging
Planting and Cultivating
Raising Livestock
Positioning Graves

Swallows Return
(the forty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Long Star
Return Branch
Blood Branch

 ————

Section Seven

丫 水

Bifurcation, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

房
爐 牀

Edifice
Furnace, Bed