China's Lunar Calendar 2019 11-05

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/9...........................................................................................................11/02

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
五
日
二期星

Eleventh Month, Fifth Day 
Tuesday, November 5

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天月天歲
喜德德祿
Generational Emolument
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Heavenly Happiness

————

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

亥未卯
吉中中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
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 Auspicious
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
搭苫作修
厠蓋灶廚

Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Thatched Coverings
Building Outhouses

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
九
丙
午
水

室
成

Ninth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingwu (43/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Room (13/28)
"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
納修納入
畜造采學
安動移會
葬土徙友
將陰
天班天小
   刑煞廢休亡空
————

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 Constructing 
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Yin General

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Heavenly Abandon-Rest
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Punishment 

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

Person, 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 灶 廚

Pestle, Stove, Kitchen