China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/19....................................................................................................................3/12

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
五

五期星

Third Month, Fifteenth Day
Friday, March 15

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Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天天三
靈醫喜合
Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Ten Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between

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
除嫁造合
服娶酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
辛

亥
金
亢
成

Ninth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Neck (2/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

安交裁入
牀易衣學
作修醫會
灶造病友
栽動移出
種土徙行
開上開納
渠樑市采
日重
陰元復小
 將武喪亡空
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Physician Treatments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating
Opening Sluices

Doubled Days

Baleful Asterisms

Small Loss-Void
Repeat Mourning
Primal Martiality
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

人

Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 灶 廚

Bed, Stove, Kitchen

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