China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-02

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
二
日

六期星

Second Month, Second Day
Saturday, February 2

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

解月天鳳
神德德凰
Phoenix
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Releasing Spirits

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

亥未卯
中凶中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
作搭苫結
灶厠蓋網

Binding Nets
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets (Outhouses)
Stove Work

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八
庚
午
木
胃
執

Twenty-Eighth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (47/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

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Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安理訂祭
牀髮婚祀
納修納祈
畜造采福
除動嫁會
服土娶友
安上移出
葬樑徙行
虛五
陽咸小馬
將池耗口

 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Five Void

Baleful Asterisms

Equine Orifice
Small Squander
Widespread Pond
Yang General

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination
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