China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-18

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/24...............................................................................................................6/17

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
八

二期星

Sixth Month, Eighteenth Day
Tuesday, June 18

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不天月
將貴德
Lunar Exemplarity
Heavenly Nobility
Not General

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
吉中吉

亥未卯
吉中吉

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

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

 ————

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

忌
吃作修
犬灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Consuming Caninity

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
丙
戌
土
室
定

Sixteenth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動嫁祭
土娶祀
上納祈
樑采福
成移會
服徙友
安交出
葬易行
氣死
五天四
 墓刑祥不
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Propitious-Nots
Heavenly Punishment
Five Tombs

Section Seven
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

廚
栖 灶

Kitchen
Perch, Stove