China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-18

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
八

一期星

Second Month, Eighteenth Day
Monday, February 18

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天陽月
恩喜德德
Lunar Exemplarity
Yang Exemplarity
Heavenly Happiness
Lunar Kindness

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

亥未卯
吉中吉

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

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

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
取田作修
魚獵灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Field Venery (Hunting)
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
丙
戌
土
心
成

Fourteenth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
修修會祭
倉造友祀
醞動裁祈
釀土衣福
納上開求
畜樑市嗣
安築交入
葬堤易學
厭月
大四月大
  煞擊忌亡空
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Constructing Dikes

Repairing Granaries

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Lunar Repression

Baleful Asterisms

Great Loss-Void
Lunar Taboo
Four Fisticuffs
Great Balefulness

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 水

White, Water

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 灶 廚

Perch, Stove, Kitchen

————