China's Lunar Calendar 2019 10-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/10.................................................................................................................10/4

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
九
日
三期星

Tenth Month, Ninth Day 
Wednesday, October 9

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

進合歲
神日德
Generational Branch
Linked Days
Entering Spirits

————

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

亥未卯
凶吉吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
除開穿
服池井

Boring Wells
Opening Ponds
Discarding Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
一
己
卯
土
壁
執

Eleventh Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jimao (16/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)*
*Occasionally, a "day-personality" repeats, as it does today.

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上納祭
樑采祀
築裁祈
提衣福
安醫會
牀病友
安修嫁
葬造娶
兀上
重咸五
喪池虛

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring)
Physician Treatments
Repairing and Constructing
Raising Beams
Constructing Dikes
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Widespread Pond
Repeat Mourning

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

White, Mountain

 ————

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)

占
門 大

Divination

Gate, Great