China's Lunar Calendar 2019 04-05

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
五四
日月

五期星

Fourth Month, Fifth Day
Friday, April 5

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時月天
陰德德
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Timely Yin

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
裁安開
衣牀渠

Opening Sluices
Positioning Beds
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
壬
申

金
鬼
定

First Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
明清
五九巳
十時初
一       
分       
  宜

成開祭
服市祀
安安入
葬門學
華始桐
猴長水
口星痕
 ————

Qingming
At the si hour; 9:51 a.m.
(the fifth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)


Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study

Opening Markets

Positioning Gates

Completing Clothing

Positioning Graves

Paulownia Blooms
(the thirteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)
 
Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Long Star
Monkey Mouth

Section Seven
白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

倉
爐 庫

Granary
Furnace, Storehouse

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