China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/10/19..........................................................1/6/19................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
八
日

二期星

First Month, Eighth Day  
Tuesday, January 8

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

玉德天歲
堂合月祿
Generational Emolument
Heavenly Lunarity
Exemplary Linkage
Jade Gate

————

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

亥未卯
凶凶中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
成遠時栽
服行插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Distant Ramblings
Completing Clothing

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
乙
巳
火
觜
定

Third Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

安修納祭
門造采祀
作動嫁祈
灶土娶福
醞上裁會
釀樑衣友
納開移訂
畜倉徙婚
日重
厭死債大
  對氣不亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Fermenting Beverages
Livestock Payments

Doubled Days

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void
Debt Not
Death Vapor
Mutual Loathing

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 林

White, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 磨 碓