China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-27

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
七

四期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day  
Thursday, September 27

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

續吉母四
世期倉相

Four Facings
Maternal Granary
Auspicious Time-Slice
Continued Generations

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
行裁放開
喪衣水渠

Opening Sluices (Irrigation)
Putting-into Water
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
八
壬
戌
水
角
除

Eighteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renxu (59/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安動理祭
牀土髮祀
飾上整祈
垣樑甲福
補建掃出
塞屋舎行
栽安修移
種門造徙
星短
陽血三債
將忌喪不

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Establishing Rooms
Positioning Gates
Positioning Beds
Adorning Embankments
Patching and Plugging
Planting and Cultivating 

Short Star

Baleful Asterisms

Debt Not
Three Mournings
Blood Taboo
Yang General

 ————

Section Seven

白

White
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary