China's Lunar Calendar 2019 09-28

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/28..............................................................................................................9/21

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
廿
八

六期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day 
Saturday, September 28

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不德歲
將日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Not General

————

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

亥未卯
中吉凶

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
進新置
水穿產

Setting-up Industry
New Boats
Entering Water

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

三
十
戊
辰
木
氐
危

Thirtieth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuchen (5/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上嫁祭
樑娶祀
安裁入
牀衣學
作移訂
灶居婚
栽交納
種易采
戶培蟲蟄
月上水
煞兀痕

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Trade and Commerce
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating

Beetles Burrow In
(the forty-seventh of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Water Scar
Upper Amputee
Lunar Balefulness

Section Seven 
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白 火

White, Fire

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

房
栖 牀

Edifice

Perch, Bed