China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/30.............................................................................................................9/23

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
廿
五

二期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day  
Tuesday, September 25

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天月歲
馬德馬

Generational Equinity
Lunar Exemplarity
Heavenly Equinity

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
針安結
灸牀網

Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Acupuncture and Moxibusion

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
庚
申
木
翌
閉

Sixteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

作沐祭
灶浴祀
修立出
倉約行
補交裁
塞易衣
安健理
葬屋髮
離五
陰白血
將虎支

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing—Tailoring
Patterning Hair—Haircuts and Hair Styling
Bubbling and Bathing
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Establishing Living Spaces
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Patching and Plugging
Positioning Graves

Five Separations

Baleful Asterisms

Blood Branch
White Tiger
Yin General

 ————

Section Seven

丫 水

Bifurcation, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
爐 磨

Pestle
Furnace, Mortar