China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/7......................................................6/3...........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
五
日

三期星

Sixth Month, Fifth Day
Wednesday, June5

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

時三民
陰合日
Peopled Days
Three Linkages
Timely Yin

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

亥未卯
凶凶凶

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

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 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

 ————

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

忌
開栽詞
市種訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Planting and Cultivating
Opening Markets

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
癸
酉
金
軫

定

Third Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上移入
樑徙學
醞理出
釀髮行
納修嫁
畜造娶
安動納
葬土采
不債
陰死反
將氣支
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Fermenting Liquor
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Opposed Branch
Death Vapor
Yin General

Section Seven
白 林

White, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

房
門 牀

Edifice
Gate, Bed