China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-04

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
四
日

五期星

First Month, Fourth Day  
Friday, January 4

————
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不陰六
將德合
Six Linkages
Yin Virtue
Not General

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

亥未卯
吉凶吉

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 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
行造合
喪酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Mourning Visits

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九
辛
丑
土
婁
除

Twenty-Ninth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinchou (38/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

宇娶祭
立納祀
約采祈
交理福
易髮會
納醫友
畜病出
安掃行
葬舎嫁

三九牛
喪鬼土口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair
Physician Treatments
Sweeping Rooms
Setting-up Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms

Ox Mouth
Nine Ghost-Soils
Three Mournings

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 人

White, Person

 ————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

廚
厠 灶

Kitchen
Toilet, Stove