China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-14

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
四

六期星

Ninth Month, Fourteenth Day 
Saturday, September 14

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

青歲
龍德
Generational Exemplarity
Blue-Green Dragon

————

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
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
祭開
祀倉

Opening Granaries
Venerating Ancestors

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
六
甲
寅
水
胃
執

Sixteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiayin (51/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

理
髮
捕
捉
修
墳
安
葬
歸四
忌廢
陽劫
將煞

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Seizing and Capturing
Repairing Tombs
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Four Abandonments
Plundered Balefulness
Return Taboo
Yang General

Section Seven
丫 地

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

占
爐 門

Divination
Furnace, Gate