China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/6...............................................................................................................11/29

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
一十
日二
    月

六期星

Twelfth Month, First Day  
Saturday, December 1

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲歲歲
合支日支

Generational Branch
Generational Exemplarity
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿整理
池井甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds 

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
丁
卯
火
女
定

Twenty-Fourth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Weaving Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上開納祭
樑市采祀
修交嫁會
倉易娶友
醞修裁出
釀 造衣行
安動移訂
葬土徙婚
口兔
陰死伏暗
將氣斷金

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances 
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Beverages
Positioning Graves

Hare Mouth

Baleful Asterisms

Dark Metal

Prostrate Severing

Death Vapor

Yin General

 ————

白 人

White, Person
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門 庫 倉

Gate, Storehouse, Granary