China's Lunar Calendar 2018 02-19

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/25............................................................................................................2/18

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
十
九

二期星

Second Month, Nineteenth Day
Tuesday, February 19

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不母天
將倉德
Heavenly Exemplarity
Maternal Granary
Not General

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
除嫁理
服娶髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
丁
亥
土
尾
收

Fifteenth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dinghai (24/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
兀上 
 ————
水雨
零七辰
四時初
分       
宜
動開出
土市行
魚祭獺
結豬重
煞口日
 ————

Upper Amputee

Rain Water 
At the beginning of the  chen hour; 7:04 a.m.
(the second of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Opening Markets
Moving Soil

River Otters Sacrifice Fish
(the fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Doubled Days
Hog Orifice
Baleful Plunder

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 州

Bifurcation, Landmass

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
牀 庫 

Granary
Bed, Storehouse

————