China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-24

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
四

四期星

First Month, Twenty-Fourth Day  
Thursday, January 24

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天母
恩醫喜倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中凶中
酉巳丑
凶中吉
戌午寅
中吉吉

亥未卯
中凶凶

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

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
詞造造合
訟醋酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Making Vinegar
Lawsuits and Litigation

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
辛
酉
木
斗
成

Nineteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinwei (58/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上掃嫁祭
樑舎娶祀
開醫納祈
倉病采福
納修移入
畜造徙學
安動理出
葬土髮行
不債
陽班楊下
將煞忌午

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair

Sweeping Rooms

Physician Treatments

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Granaries

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee
Poplar Taboo
Classified Balefulness
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 山

White, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen