China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-02

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/2...............................................................................................................5/26

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
二
日

日期星

Sixth Month, Second Day
Sunday, June 2

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

吉官月歲
期日德祿
Generational Emolument
Lunar Exemplaritiy
Official Days
Auspicious Time-Slice

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
凶吉吉

亥未卯
凶吉中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
作搭苫結
灶厠蓋網

Binding Nets
Thatched Coverings
Building Outhouses
Stove Work

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九
庚
午
土
星
除

Twenty-Ninth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開嫁祭
樑市娶祀
修交納祈
倉易采福
安修移會
牀造徙友
安動理出
葬土髮行
將俱
大大咸密
敗時池日
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Everything General

Baleful Astral Influences

Mysterious Days
Widespread Pond
Great Temporality
Great Defeat

Section Seven
白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

磨 碓 占

Mortar, Pestle, Divination