China's Lunar Calendar 2019 10-30

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/1...................................................10/28..........Monthly Calendar Information

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
三
十
三期星

Tenth Month, Thirtieth Day 
Wednesday, October 30

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

福民時
德日德
Timely Exemplarity
Peopled Days
Fortunate Exemplarity

————

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
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
進新結
水船網

Binding Nets
New Boats
Entering Water

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
三
庚

子
土
箕
滿

Third Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengzi (37/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

作整祭
倉甲祀
田開入
獵市學
成交沐
服易浴
除針理
服灸髮 
痕水
陽歸灾
將忌煞

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Entering Study
Bubbling and Bathing
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Trimming Nails
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Acupuncture and Moxibustion
Working in Granaries
Field Venery (Hunting)
Completing Clothing
Discarding Clothing

Water Scar
 
Baleful Astral Influences

Classified Balefulness
Return Taboo
Yang General

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

Bifurcation, Earth

 ————

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
磨 碓

Divination
Mortar, Pestle