China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-18

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
八

五期星

First Month, Eighteenth Day  
Friday, January 18

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

福德歲
德日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Fortunate Exemplarity

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

亥未卯
吉凶吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
動穿栽
土井種

Planting and Cultivating
Boring Wells
Moving Soil

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
三
乙
卯
水
亢
滿

Thirteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yimao (52/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
 宜
上嫁祭

樑娶祀

安納祈

牀采福

作移會

灶徙友

安開出

葬市行 
囊地

陰灾下

將煞兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune 
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Earth Duffel

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee
Baleful Conflagration
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
碓
門 磨 

Pestle

Gate, Mortar