China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-04

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
四
日

四期星

Tenth Month, Fourth Day  
Thursday, October 4

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天普歲
醫喜護祿

Generational Emolument
Universal Protection
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

亥未卯
凶吉凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
行成除遠
喪服靈行

Distant Journeys
Exorcising Spirits
 Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
己
巳
木
斗
成

Twenty-Fifth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (6/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

土醫婚祭
上病納祀
樑開采祈
安市嫁福
牀交娶入
修易裁學
倉修衣會
納造移友
畜動徙訂

陰朱刀重
將雀砧日

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days
Sword Anvil
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

 ————

Section Seven

丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 門 占

Bed, Gate, Divination