China's Lunar Calendar 2019 08-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/29................................................................................................................8/23

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
八

三期星

Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day 
Wednesday, August 28

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除陰合月
神德日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Linked Days
Yin Exemplarity
Exorcising Spirits

————

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

亥未卯
吉吉凶

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

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

 ————

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

忌
塞補整理
穴垣甲髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
八
丁
酉
火
軫
除

Twenty-Eighth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: dingyou (34/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Running Board (28/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

安堅裁祭
門柱衣祀
納上掃祈
畜樑舎福
除修修訂
服倉造婚
安安動納
葬牀土采
肅始地天
陰元咸小
 將武池亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Positioning Gates
Livestock Payments
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Heaven and Earth Become Grave
(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Widespread Pond
Primal Martiality
Yin General

Section Seven
白 人

White, Person

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

庫 倉 門

Storehouse, Granary, Gate