China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-03

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/4.............................................................................................................4/26

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
三
日

五期星

Fifth Month, Third Day
Friday, May 3

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

月天天母
恩醫喜倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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
移問結經
徙卜網絡

Energy Channels
Binding Nets
Divinatory Inquiries
Moving Residences

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九
庚
子
土
鬼
成

Twenty-Ninth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
修交嫁祈
倉易娶福
成修納入
服造采學
安動裁會
葬土衣友
煞班
陰天歸上
將牢忌兀
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

 
Baleful Astral Influences

Upper Amputee
Return Taboo
Heavenly Incarceration
Yin General

Section Seven
白 地

White, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination