China's Lunar Calendar 2019 03-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/28....................................................................................................................3/20

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
一

四期星

Third Month, Twenty-First Day
Thursday, March 21

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

歲月
馬恩
Lunar Kindness
Generational Equinity

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
吉吉中

亥未卯
凶吉凶

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
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 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
遠理
行髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Distant Journeys

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
丁

巳
土
斗
滿

Fifteenth Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingsi (54/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Dipper (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
春
分
五卯
十初
八五
分時
宜

塞補
玄

鳥

至
重歲
日破
 ————

Spring Separation (Spring Equinox)
At the beginning of the mao hour—5:58 a.m. 

Appropriate Activities
Patching and Plugging

Swallows Return
(the tenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Generational Destruction
Doubled Days

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars

丫 山

Bifurcation, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
牀 庫

Granary
Bed, Storehouse

————