China's Lunar Calendar 2019 11-25

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/25...........................................................................................................11/18

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
五
一期星

Eleventh Month, Twenty-Fifth Day 
Monday, November 25

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲時
合支德
Timely Exemplarity
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

————

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

亥未卯
中中吉

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 In-Between
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 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

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

忌
除祭作
服祀灶

Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors
Discarding Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
九
丙

寅
火
心
平

Twenty-Ninth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)

Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (5/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

動裁會

土衣友

上移出

樑徙行

栽開嫁

種市娶

安交納

葬易采
喪復

陰游五

將禍虛

————

Appropriate Activities

Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Weaving and Tailoring) 
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Astral Influences

Five Voids
Natatorial Calamity
Yin General

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

White, Ghost

 ————

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
爐 灶

Kitchen

Furnace, Stove