China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-09

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
九
日

日期星

Twelfth Month, Ninth Day  
Sunday, December 9

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十王四
靈日相

Four Facings
Kingly Days
Ten 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
中吉吉

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

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
除嫁栽
服娶種

Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
乙
亥
火
昂
閉

Third Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)
*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

安修祭
牀造祀
作動出
灶土行
補上裁
塞樑衣
牧築移
養提徙
不債
俱血重
將支日

 ———— 

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Constructing Dikes
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Patching and Plugging
Raising Livestock

Debt Not


Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days
Blood Branch
Everything General

 ————

白 山

White, Mountain
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
牀 磨

Pestle
Bed, Mortar