China's Lunar Calendar 2019 10-16

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
六
三期星

Tenth Month, Sixteenth Day 
Wednesday, October 16

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

母月天
倉德德
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Maternal Granary

————

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

亥未卯
吉中吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

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

忌
行動作
喪土灶

Stove Work
Moving Soil
Mourning Visits

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
八
丙

戌
土
參
建

Eighteenth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Establish (1/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上嫁祭
樑娶祀
安納祈
門采福
安移會
牀徙友
安醫出
葬病行

喪三

俱土債
將符不

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Physician Treatments
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Three Mournings

Baleful Astral Influences

Debt Not
Soil Palace
Everything General

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

White, Heaven

 ————

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)

廚
栖 灶

Kitchen
Perch, Stove