China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/21............................................................................................................10/14

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
七

三期星

Tenth Month, Seventeenth Day  
Wednesday, October 17

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天天三
將醫喜合

Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Not General

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

亥未卯
吉吉吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
搭苫放開
厠蓋水渠

Opening Sluices (Irrigation)
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings (Roofing)
Building Toilets (Outhouses)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
壬
午
木
參
成

Ninth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

土移友祭
上徙出祀
樑開行祈
安市嫁福
牀修娶入
安造納學
葬動采會 

天班刀
刑煞砧

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms

Sword Anvil
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Punishment

 ————

Section Seven

人 水

Person, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary