China's Lunar Calendar 2019 10-12

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/19.................................................................................................................10/12

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
二
六期星

Tenth Month, Twelfth Day 
Saturday, October 12

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天鳳歲
醫喜凰祿
Generational Emolument
Phoenix
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician

————

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

亥未卯
吉吉吉

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
搭苫房開
厠蓋水渠

Opening Sluices
Putting-into Water
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
四
壬
午
木
胃

成

Fourteenth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renwu (19/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上開出祭
樑市行祀
安交嫁祈
牀易娶福
作修納入
灶造采學
安動移會
葬土徙友
煞班
天刀月大
  刑砧忌亡空

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Cultivating
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
 Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Astral Influences

Great Loss-Void
Lunar Taboo
Sword Anvil
Heavenly Punishment

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
丫 水

Bifurcation, Water

 ————

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)

碓 庫 倉

Pestle, Storehouse, Granary