China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-22

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
廿
二

六期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Second Day
Saturday, June 22

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲十天
合支靈喜
Heavenly Happiness
Ten Spirits
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
移祈祭結
徙福祀網

Binding Nets
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Moving Residences

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

二
十
庚
寅
木
胃
成

Twentieth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengyin (27/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

修交納入
倉易采學
安修嫁會
牀造娶友
作動裁出
灶土衣行
安上開訂
葬樑市婚
忌歸
俱大白刀
將煞虎砧
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences

Sword Anvil
White Tiger
Great Balefulness
Everything General

Section Seven
白 水

White, Water

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

爐 磨 碓

Furnace, Mortar, Pestle