China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-23

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
廿
三

六期星

Second Month, Twenty-Third Day
Saturday, February 23

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不吉合月
將期日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Auspicious Time-Slice
Not General

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

亥未卯
中中吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 In-Between
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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿嫁合
池井娶醬

Mixing Sauces
Marriage Alliances
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
辛

卯
木
女
除

Nineteenth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
作移訂祭
灶徙婚祀
載修納祈
種造采福
除動嫁會
服土娶友
安上理出
葬樑髮行
不債
朱咸上四
 雀池兀祥不
 ————

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

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Four Fortune-Nots

Upper Amputee

Widespread Pond

Vermilion Bird

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 林

White, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門 灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen

————