China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/22.............................................................................................................9/14

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
八

二期星

Ninth Month, Eighteenth Day  
Tuesday, September 18

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月金合歲
恩堂日德

Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Golden Hall
Lunar Benevolence

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
吉中中

亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

 ————

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

忌
娶產修詞
魚室置訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Setting-up Industry
Repairing Rooms
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
癸
丑
木
觜
定

Ninth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安交訂祭
門易婚祀
作修裁祈
灶造衣福
醞動移會
釀 土徙友
安上開出
葬樑市行
修養鳥群
陽死八上
將氣專兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages

Positioning Graves

Flocks of Birds Gather Grain

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

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee
Eight Specialities
Death Vapor
Yang General

 ————

Section Seven

人 林

Person, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, Edifice