China's Lunar Calendar 2018 09-30

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
三
十

日期星

Ninth Month, Thirtieth Day  
Sunday, September 30

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

金母合月
堂倉日德

Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Maternal Granary
Golden Hall

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
中中吉

亥未卯
中凶凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
行除時栽
喪服插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
一
乙
丑
金
房
定

Twenty-First Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上開訂祭
樑市婚祀
安交納祈
牀易采福
作修嫁會
灶造娶友
安動移出
葬土徙行
兀上
俱復死密
將喪氣日

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Asterisms

Mysterious Days
Death Vapor
Repeat Mourning
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

人 林

Person, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

厠  磨  碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle