China's Lunar Calendar 2019 07-11

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/15.................................................................................................................7/7

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
一

四期星

Seventh Month, Eleventh Day 
Thursday, July 11

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德天合歲
合月日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Heavenly Lunarity
Exemplary Linkage

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

亥未卯
凶吉凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
行成除田
喪服靈獵

Field Venery (Hunting)
Discarding Spirits
Completing Clothing
Mourning Visits

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
己
酉
土
斗
滿

Ninth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiyou(46/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上開納祭
樑市采祀
安交嫁祈
牀易娶福
補修移出
塞造徙行
納動理訂
畜土髮婚
日復
陰重血灾
將喪忌煞
 ————

Auspicious Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances 
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Patching and Plugging
Livestock Payments

Returning Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Disastrous Balefulness
Blood Taboo
Repeat Mourning
Yin General

Section Seven
人 山

Person, Mountain

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

門 大 占

Gate, Great, Divination