China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/10...............................................12/7...........Monthly Calendar Information

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
八
日

六期星

Twelfth Month, Eighth Day  
Saturday, December 8

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生時鳳
恩氣陽凰

Phoenix 
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

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
伐詞出開
木松財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Lawsuits and Litigation
Felling Timber

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
甲
戌
火
胃
開

Second Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)*
*Every once-in-awhile, the calendar repeats a "day personality," as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

作修訂祭
灶造婚祀
置動納祈
產土采福
開上開入
渠樑市學
穿安納會
井門財友
虛五
反下伏暗
支兀斷金

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Opening Markets
Tax Payments
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Setting-up Production
Opening Sluices
Boring Wells

Five Voids


Baleful Asterisms

Dark Metal
Prostrate Severing
Lower Amputee
Opposed Branch

 ————

白 火

White, Fire
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 碓 門

Perch, Pestle, Gate