China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-30

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
三
十

三期星

First Month, Thirtieth Day
Wednesday, January 30

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲
日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days

————

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

亥未卯
吉凶凶

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 In-Between
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 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
穿理
井髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Boring Wells
 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
丁
卯
火
壁
滿

Twenty-Fifth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness: (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
開出
市行
作訂
灶婚
補移
塞居
水
澤
腹
堅
短下
星兀

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Stove Work
Patching and Plugging

Streams and Marshes Frozen Solid
(the seventy-second of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Lower Amputee
Short Star

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門
庫 倉

Gate
Storehouse, Granary
————