China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-13

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/20..............................................................................................................9/12

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
三

五期星

Ninth Month, Thirteenth Day 
Friday, September 13

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

三月母四
合恩倉相
Four Facings
Maternal Granary
Lunar Kindness
Three Linkages

————

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
吉中中

亥未卯
中凶凶

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

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

 ————

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

忌
產修娶詞
室置魚訟

Lawsuits and Litigation
Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')
Repairing Rooms
Setting-up Production

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
五
癸
丑
木
婁
定

Fifteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Mound (16/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
節秋
宜

安開訂祭
牀市婚祀
作動裁會
灶土衣友
安上移出
葬樑徙行
歸鳥玄
陽死八大
 將氣專亡空

 ————

Autumn Festival (Moon Festival)


Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors 
Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Positioning Graves

Swallows Depart, Returning to Warmer Weather
(the forty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Eight Specializations
Death Vapor
Yang General

Section Seven
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

厠 牀 房

Toilet, Bed, Edifice