China's Lunar Calendar 2019 05-16

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/17...............................................................................................................5/10

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
十
六

四期星

Fifth Month, Sixteenth Day
Thursday, May 16

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三玉
醫喜合堂
Jade Palace
Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

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

亥未卯
凶凶吉

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

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
進新取詞
水船魚訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)
New Boats
Entering Water

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
癸
丑
木
斗
成

Twelfth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

安動開入
牀土市學
作上交會
灶樑易友
納築醫出
畜堤病行
安修修裁
葬倉造衣
生瓜王
歸厭牛水
忌對口痕
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Physician Treatments
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Constructing Dikes
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves
 
Cucurbit Flourishes
(the twenty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Ox Orifice
Mutual Repression
Return Taboo

Section Seven
白 山

White, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, Edifice