China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-20

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
二
十

五期星

Ninth Month, Twentieth Day 
Friday, September 20

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除王月
神日德
Lunar Exemplarity
Kingly Days
Discarding Spirits

————

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
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
針安結
灸牀網

Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
二
庚
申
木
鬼
閉

Twenty-Second Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

醞立出
釀約行
修交裁
倉易衣
納建理
畜屋髮
安作掃
葬灶舎
將陰
白血八
虎支專

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Establishing Rooms
Stove Work
Fermenting Beverages
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Yin General

Baleful Astral Influences

Eight Specialties
Blood Branch
White Tiger

Section Seven
人 水

Person, Water

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items

碓
爐 磨

Pestle

Furnace, Mortar