China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-01

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
一二
日月

五期星

Second Month, First Day
Friday, February 1

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三玉歲
陰合堂祿
Generational Emolument
Jade Hall
Three Linkages
Timely Yin

————

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

亥未卯
凶凶中

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

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 Auspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
行成除遠
喪服靈行

Distant Journeys
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits
 ————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
七
己
巳
木
婁
定

Twenty-Seventh Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jisi (46/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

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Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安修裁會
牀造衣友
作動理訂
灶土髮婚
醞上移納
釀 樑居采
納安入嫁
畜門宅娶
日重
復重死債
日喪氣不

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Moving Residences
Entering Residences (Staying Home)
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Fermenting Beverages
Livestock Payments

Doubled Days

Baleful Asterisms

Debt Not
Death Vapor
Repeat Mourning
Repeated Days

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 門 占

Bed, Gate, Divination
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