China's Lunar Calendar 2019 04-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/9..............................................4/5........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
九
日

二期星

Fourth Month, Ninth Day
Tuesday, April 9

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天母
將喜倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Not General

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

亥未卯
吉中中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
問作修
卜灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Divinatory Questions

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
丙
子

水
翌
成

Fifth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動出祭
土行祀
上嫁祈
樑娶福
修納入
倉采學
安開會
葬市友
忌歸
班上月
煞兀忌
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds 

Return Taboo 

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Upper Amputee
Classified Balefulness

Section Seven
丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

廚

碓 灶

Kitchen
Pestle, Stove

————