China's Lunar Calendar 2019 06-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/2...............................................................................................................6/25

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
八

五期星

Sixth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day 
Friday, June 28

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

福驛相月
德馬日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Mutual Days
Postal Horse
Fortunate Exemplarity

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

亥未卯
吉吉中

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

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

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
田安作修
獵牀灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Field Venery (Hunting)

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
六
丙
申
火
鬼
滿

Twenty-Sixth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動理出祭
土髮行祀
上開嫁祈
樑市娶福
栽交納入
重易采學
安修移會
葬造徙友
虛五
孤天無五
辰狗祿離
 ————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Cultivating

Moving Soil

Raising Beam

Planting and Cultivating

Positioning Graves
 
Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Separations
Without Emolument
Heavenly Canine
Lonely Dawn

Section Seven
丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

爐 灶 廚

Furnace, Stove, Kitchen