China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-31

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/4....................................................................................................................3/29

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
卅
一

日期星

Third Month, Thirty-first Day
Sunday, March 31

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月官四鳳
恩日相凰
Phoenix
Four Pillars
Official Days
Lunar Kindness

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

 ————

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

忌
動穿整理
土井甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Boring Wells
Moving Soil

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
五
丁
卯

火
昂
建

Twenty-Fifth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingmao (4/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上移出祭
樑徙行祀
開醫訂祈
倉病婚福
出立納求
財約采嗣
牧交裁會
養易衣友
電始
厭土密小
 對府日亡空
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Seeking Inheritance
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Making Appointments 
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Tending Livestock

First Lightning
(the twelfth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

 
Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void

Mysterious Days

Soil Palace

Mutual Repression

Section Seven
丫 神

Bifurcation, Spirit

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate

————

China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-30

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/4....................................................................................................................3/29

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
三
十

六期星

Third Month, Thirtieth Day
Saturday, March 30

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲五
合支富
Five Abundances
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中中吉

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
祭作修
祀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
四
丙
寅

火
胃
閉

Twenty-Fourth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上立入
樑約學
補交出
塞易行
除修訂
服造婚
安動裁
葬土衣
忌歸
游上血
禍兀支
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Patching and Plugging
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Return Taboo
 
Baleful Astral Influences

Blood Branch
Upper Amputee
Natatorial Disaster

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 地

White, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

廚
爐 灶

Kitchen
Furnace, Stove

————

China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-29

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/4....................................................................................................................3/29

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
九

五期星

Third Month, Twenty-Ninth Day
Friday, March 29

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天生時天
將恩氣陽貴
Heavenly Nobility
Timely Yang
Engendered Vapor
Heavenly Kindness
Not General

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

亥未卯
中凶吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
塞補伐時栽
穴垣木插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Felling Timber 
Adorning Embankments
Plugging Caves

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
乙
丑

金
婁
開

Twenty-Third Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

產動移出祭
室土徙行祀
安堅理訂祈
牀柱髮婚福
作上醫嫁入
灶樑病娶學
納修修裁會
畜置造衣友
虛五
復重勾寡月
日喪趁宿忌
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Physician Visits
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Repairing Rooms 
Setting-up Industry
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Five Voids
 
Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Orphan Hostel
Narrative Hook
Repeat Mourning
Repeated Days

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 林

White, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 磨 碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle

————