China's Lunar Calendar 2019 07-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/23.................................................................................................................7/16

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
一

日期星

Seventh Month, Twenty-First Day 
Sunday, July 21

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

鳳合歲
凰日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Phoenix

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

亥未卯
凶吉吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 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
行除動
喪服土

Moving Soil
Discarding Clothing
Mourning Visits

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
九
己
未
火
昂
建

Nineteenth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiwei (56/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Pleiades (18/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
事用王土
————
宜

安裁會
牀衣友
栽移出
種徙行
納開嫁
畜市娶
喪三
復重土
日喪府
 ————

Soil King Usage Affairs
(a temporal marker dividing the year into five, seventy-two day periods)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Soil Palace
Repeat Mourning
Returning Days

Section Seven
白 神

White, Spirit

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

占

厠 門

Divination
Toilet, Gate