China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-20

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/28...........................................................................................................12/20

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
二
十

四期星

Twelfth Month, Twentieth Day  
Wednesday, December 20

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月生時
空氣陽

Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Vacancy

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

亥未卯
吉中吉

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
補作修
塞灶廚

Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Patching and Plugging

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
丙
戌
土
角
開

Fourteenth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上訂祭
樑婚祀
安裁祈
門衣福
置修入
產造學
牧動會
養土友 
兀下
俱寡月
將宿忌

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Setting-up Production
Raising Livestock

Lower Amputee

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Taboo
Orphan Hostel
Everything General

 ————
白 火

White, Fire
 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
廚
栖 灶