China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/8.............................................................................................................10/1

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
日

三期星

Tenth Month, Third Day  
Wednesday, October 3

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天歲
恩德

Generational Exemplarity
Heavenly Kindness

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

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

 ————

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

忌
置買
業田

Buying Land
Setting-up Industry

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
戊
辰
木
箕
危

Twenty-Fourth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuchen (5/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

拆

卸

掃

舎 

————

水

開

涸
————
天歲
刑破

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Unhitching and Unloading
Sweeping Rooms

Water Dry Up
(the forty-eighth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Generational Destruction
Heavenly Punishment

 ————

Section Seven

白 火

White, Fire
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

房

栖 牀

Edifice
Perch, Bed