China's Lunar Calendar 2019 04-23

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
4/25.............................................................................................................4/18

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
三

二期星

Fourth Month, Twenty-Third Day
Tuesday, April 23

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十月生時
靈恩氣德
Timely Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor
Lunar Kindness
Ten Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

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

 ————

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

忌
作祈祭結
灶福祀網

Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Stove Work

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
庚
寅
木
室
開

Nineteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pyre (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

置動納入
產土采學
安上移會
牀樑徙友
栽開醫出
種倉病行
除出修訂
服財造婚
不債
血火虎下
忌星口兀
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Setting-up Production
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating 
Discarding Clothing

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Lower Amputee

Tiger Mouth

Fire Star

Blood Taboo

Section Seven
白 火

White, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle

————