China's Lunar Calendar 2019 01-31

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

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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
卅
一

四期星

First Month, Thirty-First Day
Thursday, January 31

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天歲
馬德
Generational Exemplarity
Heavenly Horse

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

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

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

忌
置買
業田

Buying Land
Setting-up Industry

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
戊
辰
木
奎
平

Twenty-Sixth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuchen (5/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

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Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
祭

祀

掃

舎
復歲
喪破
陰月
將煞

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Sweeping Rooms

Baleful Asterisms

Generational Destruction
Lunar Balefulness
Repeat Mourning
Yin General

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Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 天

Bifurcation, Heaven

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Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

房
栖 牀

Edifice
Perch, Bed
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