China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-06

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
六
日

四期星

Sixth Month, Sixth Day
Thursday, June 6

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不三歲
將合德
Generational Exemplarity
Three Linkages
Not General

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
吃出開
犬財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Consuming Caninity

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
四
甲
戌
火
角

定

Fourth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day personality" is repeated, as it is today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
種芒
零七辰
六時初
分       

宜

動移會
土徙友
上開嫁
樑市娶
生螂螳
天死四
  刑氣祥不
 ————

Grain in Ear
At the beginning of the chen hour; 7:06 a.m.
(the ninth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams

Mantids Hatch
(the twenty-fifth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Fortune-Nots
Death Vapor
Heavenly Punishment

Section Seven
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門
栖 碓

Gate
Perch, Pestle