China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/4..........................................................................................................1/28

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
八

一期星

First Month, Twenty-Eighth Day
Monday, January 28

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德天鳳
合月凰
Phoenix
Heavenly Lunarity
Exemplary Linkage

————

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 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
行動栽
喪土種

Planting and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Mourning Visits
 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
乙
丑
金
危
建

Twenty-Third Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

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Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
出納祭
財采祀
安裁祈
牀衣福
納上會
畜樑友
安開訂
葬倉婚
痕水
三土上
喪府兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Raising Beams

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms

Upper Amputee

Soil Palace

Three Mournings

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人 州

Person, Landmass

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
碓

厠 磨

Pestle
Toilet, Mortar
————