China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-18

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
八

一期星

Third Month, Eighteenth Day
Monday, March 18

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

王月歲
日德德
Generational Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Kingly Days

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
祭出開
祀財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Venerating Ancestors

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
甲

寅
水
心
閉

Twelfth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

補立入
塞約學
裁交訂
種易婚
成修裁
服造衣
安動開
葬土市
忌歸
血上水
支兀痕
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-Out  Clothing
Opening Markets
Setting-up Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Patching and Plugging
Planting and Cultivating
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

Water Scar
Upper Amputee
Blood Branch

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

白 地

White, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

占
爐 門

Divination
Furnace, Gate

————