China's Lunar Calendar 2019 02-26

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/6............................................................................................................2/26

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
六

二期星

Second Month, Twenty-Sixth Day
Tuesday, February 26

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進時歲歲
神德祿德
Generational Exemplarity
Generational Emolument
Timely Exemplarity
Entering Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious

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

 ————

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

忌
除苫出開
服蓋財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Thatched Coverings
Discarding Clothing

 ————
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
甲

午
金
室
定

Twenty-Second Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiawu (31/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: House (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
動移出祭
土徙行祀
上開嫁祈
樑市娶福
作交納入
灶易采學
納修裁會
畜造衣友
喪重
俱死白復
將氣虎日
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Grain Payments

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Asterisms

Repeated Days
White Tiger
Death Vapor
Everything General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人 火

Person, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

碓 門 占

Pestle, Gate, Divination

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