China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/27..........................................................................................................1/20

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
廿
一

一期星

First Month, Twenty-First Day  
Monday, January 21

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十歲
靈德
Generational Exemplarity
Ten Spirits

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
苫置
蓋產

Setting-up Production
Thatched Coverings

 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
戊
午
火
心
執

Sixteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuwu (55/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
捕出
捉行
田理
獵髮
伐整
木甲
開安
光牀
復
喪
陽馬
將口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Positioning Beds
Seizing and Capturing
Field Venery (Hunting)
Felling Timber
Eye-Opening Ceremonies

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Asterisms

Equine Orifice
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
房
碓 牀

Edifice
Pestle, Bed