China's Lunar Calendar 2018 11-28

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
八

三期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Eighth Day  
Wednesday, November 28

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進天四月
神赦相德

Lunar Exemplarity
Four Facings
Heavenly Amnesty
Entering Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉中

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
取問出開
魚卜財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Divinatory Questions
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
一
甲
子
金
箕
除

Twenty-First Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiazi (1/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上醫嫁祭
樑病娶祀
安開納祈
牀市采福
納修移會
畜造徙友
安動理出
葬土髮行
池咸
俱白下大
 將虎兀亡空

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marraige Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Widespread Pond

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
White Tiger
Everything General

 ————

人 火

Person, Fire
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 門 占

Pestle, Gate, Divination