China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-31

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/7............................................................................................................10/30

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
卅
一

三期星

Tenth Month, Thirty-First Day  
Wednesday, October 31

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生月天歲
氣德德馬

Generational Equinity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
吉吉中

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

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 Auspicious
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
伐安作修
木牀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Felling Timber

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
丙
申
火
箕
開

Twenty-Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上理出祭
樑髮行祀
穿開嫁祈
井市娶福
修修納入
倉造采學
置動移會
產土徙友
痕水
招厭無月
搖對祿忌

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Boring Wells

Repairing Granaries

Setting-up Production

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Taboo
Without Emolument
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio

 ————

Section Seven

人

Person
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen