China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-09

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
九
日

四期星

Fifth Month, Ninth Day
Thursday, May 9

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

合天歲
日德祿
Generational Emolument
Heavenly Exemplarity
Linked Days

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

亥未卯
凶中中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
除苫作
服蓋灶

Stove Work
Thatched Coverings
Discarding Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
五
丙
午
水
角
除

Fifth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動裁祭
土衣祀
上移會
樑徙友
安理訂
牀髮婚
栽開納
種市采
喪重
復咸月
日池忌
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
 Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating 

Repeat Mourning


Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Widespread Pond
Repeated Days

Section Seven
丫

Bifurcation

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

廚
碓 灶

Kitchen
Pestle, Stove