China's Lunar Calendar 2018 11-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/12.....................................................11/8..........................Monthly 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

日期星

Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day  
Sunday, November 11

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三鳳
醫喜合凰

Phoenix
Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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


07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
田詞整理
獵訟甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Lawsuits and Litigation
Field Venery (Hunting)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
四
丁
未
水
昂
成

Fourth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

開交訂祭
渠易婚祀
安修納祈
牀造采福
作動裁入
灶土衣學
安上開會
葬樑市友
對厭 
招四反密
搖擊支日

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments 

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Sluices

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Mutual Repression

Baleful Asterisms

Mysterious Days
Opposed Branches
Four Fisticuffs
Rollicking Braggadocio

 ————

Section Seven

丫

Bifurcation
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary