China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-24

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
四

一期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day
Monday, June 24

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲生時
日支氣德
Timely Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days

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

亥未卯
吉中吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
塞補放開
穴垣水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
壬
辰
水
畢
開

Twenty-Second Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renchen (29/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
日龍分
————
宜

上開訂祭
樑市婚祀
作交納會
灶易采友
置動移出
產土徙行
將俱
五九寡小
 虛空宿亡空
 ————

Dragon Separation Day

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Stove Work

Setting-up Production

Everything General
 
Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Orphan Hostel
Nine Voids
Five Vacancies

Section Seven
人

Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 庫 倉

Perch, Storehouse, Granary