China's Lunar Calendar 2019 08-16

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
六

五期星

Eighth Month, Sixteenth Day 
Friday, August 16

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除陰官
神德日
Official Days
Yin Exemplarity
Exorcising Spirits

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
中中凶

亥未卯
中中凶

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

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

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
補時栽
塞插種

Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
Patching and Plugging

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
乙
酉
水
婁
除

Sixteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

化整祭
靈甲祀
修掃祈
墳舎福
破安沐
土門浴
安成理
葬服髮
池咸
往五大
亡離亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Bubbling and Bathing
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Sweeping Rooms
Positioning Gates
Completing Clothing
Transforming Spirits
Repairing Tombs
Ramming Earth
Positioning Graves

Widespread Pond

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Five Separations
Toward Loss

Section Seven
丫人

Bifurcation, Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

碓
門 磨

Pestle
Gate, Mortar