China's Lunar Calendar 2018 11-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/20...............................................................................................................11/13

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
三

二期星

Eleventh Month, Thirteenth Day  
Tuesday, November 13

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時合月
氣陽日德

Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
凶吉凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
塞補田伐
穴垣獵木

Felling Timber
Field Venery (Hunting)
Plugging Caves
Plugging Caves

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
六
己
酉
土
觜
開

Fifth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上理嫁祭
樑髮娶祀
安開納祈
牀市采福
穿修裁入
井造衣學
置動移出
產土徙行
煞班
陽朱天雞
將雀火口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Styling and Haircuts)
Opening Markets 
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Boring Wells
Setting-up Production 

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Asterisms

Fowl Mouth

Heavenly Fire

Vermilion Bird

Yang General

 ————

白 林

White, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination