China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/9..................................................5/5.......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
六
日

一期星

Fifth Month, Sixth Day
Monday, May 6

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生陰普
氣德護
Universal Protection
Yin Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor

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

亥未卯
凶凶吉

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

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

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
開穿詞
池井訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
二
癸
卯
金
張
開

Second Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guimao (40/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)*
*Occasionally, a "Day Personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
夏立
零三寅
三時初
分       
宜

動訂會
土婚友
上裁出
樑衣行
鳴蟈螻
天班債
火煞不
 ————

Beginning of Summer
At the beginning of the yin hour; 3:03 a.m.
(the seventh of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)


Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams

Little Frogs Peep
(the nineteenth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire

Section Seven
白 人

White, Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

房
門 牀

Edifice
Gate, Bed