China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-29

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
九

一期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day  
Monday, October 29

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進天三歲
神喜合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Entering Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
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
搭苫出開
厠蓋財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets (Outhouses)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
一
甲
午
金
心
成

Twenty-First Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiawu (31/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

動醫納入
土病采學
上開嫁會
樑市娶友
作交裁出
灶易衣行
安修移訂
葬造徙婚
煞班
陰天刀九
 將刑砧鬼土

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Asterisms

Nine Ghost-Soils
Sword Anvil
Heavenly Punishment
Yin General

 ————

Section Seven

白 水

White, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
碓 門 占

Pestle, Gate, Divination