China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/17............................................................................................................2/9

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
一

一期星

Second Month, Eleventh Day
Monday, February 11

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進合歲
神日德
Generational Exemplarity

Linked Days

Entering Spirits

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

亥未卯
凶吉吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
裁開船
衣池井

Boring Wells
Opening Ponds
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
七
己
卯
土
張
除

Seventh Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Soil
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
動納祭
土采祀
建理會
屋髮友
安醫出
牀病行
除交嫁
服易娶
星長
咸上水
池兀痕
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Physician Treatments
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Establishing Rooms
Positioning Beds
Discarding Clothing

Long Star

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar
Upper Amputee
Widespread Pond

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 林

White, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

占
門 大

Divination
Gate, Great

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