China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-04

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
四
日

二期星

Twelfth Month, Fourth Day  
Tuesday, December 4

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合天三歲
日德合支

Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Heavenly Exemplarity
Linked Days

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

亥未卯
中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
田搭苫結
獵厠蓋網

Binding Nets
Thatched Coverings
Building Outhouses
Field Venery

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
庚
午
土
室
危

Twenty-Seventh Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pyre (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

倉交娶祭
安易納祀
牀修采祈
作造裁福
灶動衣會
成土移友
服上徙出
安樑開行
葬修市嫁

致天五下
死吏虛兀

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee
Five Voids
Heavenly Official
Death Delivery

 ————

丫

Bifurcation, Landmass
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Divination
Bed, Gate