China's Lunar Calendar 2018 12-23

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
廿
三

日期星

Twelfth Month, Twenty-Third Day  
Sunday, December 23

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不陰吉
將德期

Auspicious TIme-Slice
Yin Exemplarity
Not General

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

亥未卯
凶凶吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
行進新
喪水船

New Boats
Entering Water
Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
七
己
丑
火
房
除

Seventeenth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (26/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Edifice (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

動理會
土髮友
醞掃出
釀 舎行
納開嫁
畜市娶
安修納
葬造采
痕水
三無牛
喪祿口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Fermenting Beverages
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

Bovine Orifice (Ox Mouth)

 ————

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person

 ————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

占

厠 門

Divination
Toilet, Gate