China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-16

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
六

三期星

First Month, Sixteenth Day  
Wednesday, January 16

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合歲
日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days

————

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
動詞
土訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Moving Soil

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
一
癸
丑
木
軫
建

Eleventh Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜
會
友
安
牀
土上
府兀
三債
喪不

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Positioning Beds

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee
Debt Not
Soil Palace
Three Mournings

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人 州

Person, Landmass

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
房
厠 牀

Edifice
Toilet, Bed