China's Lunar Calendar 2019 08-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/12................................................................................................................8/6

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
六
日

二期星

Eighth Month, Sixth Day 
Tuesday, August 6

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十陰時三
靈德陰合
Three Linkages
Timely Yin
Yin Exemplarity
Ten Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
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 In-Between
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 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
成除嫁栽
服靈娶種

Planting and Cultivating
Marriage Alliances
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
六
乙
亥
火
尾
定

Sixth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

倉動徙入
醞土理學
釀上髮會
開樑開友
渠安市納
牧門交采
養作易裁
納灶修衣
畜修造移

招厭死重
搖對氣日

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling) 
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Fermenting Liquors
Opening Sluices (Irrigation)
Raising Livestock
Livestock Payments

Baleful Astral Influences

Doubled Days
Death Vapor
Mutual Loathing
Rollicking Braggadocio 

Section Seven
白 人

White, Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle