China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/11......................................................3/7..........Monthly Calendar Information

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

Third Month, Eleventh Day
Monday, March 11

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月陰時四
恩德陰相
Four Facings
Timely Yin
Yin Exemplarity
Lunar Kindness

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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
針詞整理
灸訟甲髮

Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Lawsuits and Litigation
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
丁

未
水
張
定

Fifth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingwei (44/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

修交裁祭
倉易衣祀
安修移祈
牀造徙福
納動開會
畜土市友
安上立出
葬樑約行
鳴庚倉
血死月反
忌氣忌支
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune 
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Raising Livestock
Positioning Graves 

Golden Orioles Sing
(the eighth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

Opposed Branch
Lunar Taboo
Death Vapor
Blood Taboo

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 人

Bifurcation, Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary

————