China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-07

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
七
日

日期星

Tenth Month, Seventh Day  
Sunday, October 7

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不四歲
將相馬

Generational Horse
Four Facings
Not General

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
安放開
牀水渠

Opening Sluices (Irrigation)
Putting-into Water
Positioning Beds (Fengshui)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八
壬
申
金
虛
閉

Twenty-Eighth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

補裁祭
捉衣祀
栽掃沐
種舎浴
納修理
畜倉髮
安醞整
葬釀甲
日密
白血五
虎支離

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Bubbling and Bathing

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Trimming Nails

Cutting-out Clothing

Sweeping Rooms

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Patching and Plugging

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves

Mysterious Days

Baleful Asterisms

Five Separations
Blood Branch
White Tiger

 ————

Section Seven

白 水

White, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
爐 庫

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse