China's Lunar Calendar 2018 11-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/28...............................................................................................................11/21

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
五

日期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Fifth Day  
Sunday, November 25

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生聖母
氣心倉

Maternal Granary
Sagely Heart-Mind
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
中中凶

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
伐造合
木酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Felling Timber

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
八
辛
酉
木
房
開

Eighteenth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinyou (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上醫入
樑病學
安掃出
門舎行
作修裁
灶造衣
牧動理
養土髮
不債
天班雞
火煞口

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Visits
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Raising Livestock 

 Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Chicken Mouth
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire

 ————

白 林

White, Copse
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

廚

門 灶

Kitchen

Gate, Stove