China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-06

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/11..............................................................................................................9/4

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

五期星

Ninth Month, Sixth Day 
Friday, September 6

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時歲
氣陽祿
Generational Emolument
TImely Yang
Engendered Vapor

————

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

亥未卯
吉中中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
苫作修
蓋灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Thatched Coverings

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
八
丙
午
水
牛
開

Eighth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Oxen (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動訂祭
土婚祀
安納祈
牀采福
栽移入
種徙學
成開出
服市行
口馬
陰天班
將火煞

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds
Planting and Cultivating
Completing Clothing

Equine Orifice (Horse Mouth)

Baleful Astral Influences

Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire
Yin General

Section Seven
白 火

White, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

廚
碓 灶

Kitchen
Pestle, Stove