China's Lunar Calendar 2019 12-01

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/08.........................................................................................................11/30

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
一十
日二
    月
日期星

Twelfth Month, First Day 
Sunday, December 1

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天母
貴倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Nobility

————

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

亥未卯
中吉吉

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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
安開
牀渠

Opening Sluices
Positioning Beds

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
六
壬

申
金
虛
收

Sixth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

祭
祀
掃
舎
伐
木
捕
捉
復劫
日煞
陽重
將喪

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Sweeping Rooms
Felling Timber
Seizing and Capturing  

Baleful Astral Influences

Plundered Balefulness
Repeat Mourning
Repeated Days
Yang General

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

Bifurcation, 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)

倉
爐 庫

Granary

Furnace, Storehouse