China's Lunar Calendar 2019 08-15

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/22................................................................................................................8/14

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
五

四期星

Eighth Month, Fifteenth Day 
Thursday, August 15

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

王歲
日德
Generational Exemplarity
Kingly Days

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
安開
牀倉

Opening Granaries
Positioning Beds

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
甲
申
水
奎
建

Fifteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
中
元
————
宜

裁出
衣行
掃赴
舎任
納嫁
畜娶
土

府
復猴
喪口

 ————

Ghost Festival
(commemorated on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month)

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)
Taking-up Office
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Sweeping Rooms
Livestock Payments

Soil Palace

Baleful Astral Influences

Monkey Mouth
Repeat Mourning

Section Seven
丫 鬼

Bifurcation, Ghost

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

占
爐 牀

Divination
Furnace, Bed