China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/19/19.....................................................................................................1/11/19

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
十
二

六期星

First Month, Twelfth Day  
Saturday, January 12

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進天天母
神醫喜倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Entering Spirits

————

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

亥未卯
凶凶凶

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

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
行成進新
喪服水船

New Boats
Entering Water
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
七
己
酉
土
柳
成

Seventh Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiyou (46/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜 
動理納祭
土髮采祀
上掃嫁入
樑舎娶學
修開裁出
倉市衣行
醞交移訂
釀 易徙婚
痕水
復班重下
日煞喪兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair

Sweeping Rooms

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee
Repeat Mourning
Classified Balefulness
Repeated Days

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 山

White, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門  大 占
Gate, Great, Divination