China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/13...............................................10/9........Monthly Calendar information

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
十
一

四期星

Tenth Month, Eleventh Day  
Thursday, October 11

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

民時月天
日德德德

Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Timely Exemplarity
Peopled Days

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

亥未卯
吉中中

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 In-Between
05:00-07:00 In-Between

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

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

 ————

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

忌
裁問作修
衣卜灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Divinatory Inquiries
Cutting-out Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
丙
子
水
奎
滿

Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

貨動訂祭
財土婚祀
栽上納祈
種樑采福
牧修嫁會
養 開娶友
安倉娶出
葬出造行
星長 
俱歸灾債
將忌煞不

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Opening Commercial-Activities
Capital Outlay
Planting and Cultivating
Raising Livestock
Positioning Graves

Long Star

Baleful Asterisms

Debt Not
Disastrous Balefulness
Return Taboo
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

白 地

White, Earth
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen