China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/29............................................................................................................10/21

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
廿
六

五期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day  
Friday, October 26

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲德歲
合支日支

Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中中吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿造合
池井酒醬

Mixing Sauces

Making Liquor

Boring Wells

Opening Ponds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
八
辛
卯
木
亢
執

Eighteenth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安醫出祭
牀病行祀
作開嫁祈
灶市娶福
修動納入
倉土采學
安上移會
葬樑徙友
虛五
勾咸小小
 陳池耗亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms

Small Loss-Void
Small Squander
Widespread Pond
Narrative Hook

 ————

Section Seven

白 山

White, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen