China's Lunar Calendar 2019 10-21

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/27.................................................................................................................10/20

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
一
一期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-First Day 
Monday, October 21

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

三歲德天
合支合月
Heavenly Lunarity
Exemplary Linkages
Generational Branch
Three Linkages

————

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

亥未卯
中中吉

23:00-01:00 In-Between
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

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

 ————

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

忌
開穿造合
池井酒醬

Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
三
辛

卯
木
張
執

Twenty-Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: xinmao (28/60)

Phase (element): Wood
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
事用王土
————
宜
 上移出祭
樑徙行祀
作開嫁入
灶市娶學
安動納會
葬土采友

 ————

Earth-King Use Matters 
(a marker used to divide the year into five periods of seventy-two days)


Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Upper Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Five Voids
Small Squander
Widespread Pond

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(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)

門灶 廚

Gate, Stove, Kitchen