China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/5/19.......................................................1/1/19.....................................12/29

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
二
日

三期星

First Month, Second Day  
Wednesday, January 2

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

王麒
日麟
Unicorn
Kingly Days

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

亥未卯
凶吉吉

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 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 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
除嫁
服娶

Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
己
亥
木
壁
閉

Twenty-Seventh Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jihai (36/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed: (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

築出
堤行
開裁
池衣
補移
垣居
塞安
穴牀
債
不
朱重
雀日

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing 
Moving Residences
Positioning Beds
Constructing Dikes
Opening Ponds
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days
Vermilion Bird

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

占
牀 門

Divination
Bed, Gate