China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-10

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
十
日

二期星

Ninth Month, Tenth Day 
Tuesday, September 10

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十守母月
靈日倉德
Lunar Exemplarity
Maternal Granary
Protected Days
Ten Spirits

————

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
行成除結
喪服靈網

Binding Nets

Expelling Spirits

Completing Clothing

Mourning Visits

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
庚
戌
金
室
除

Twelfth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengxu (47/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上理訂祭
樑髮婚祀
栽掃納祈
種舎采福
納修嫁會
畜造娶友
安動移出
葬土徙行
將俱
血三上月
忌喪兀害

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Planting and Cultivating
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Everything General

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Harm
Upper Amputee
Three Mournings
Blood Taboo

Section Seven
白

White

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle