China's Lunar Calendar 2019 12-09

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/16.........................................................................................................12/09

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
九
日
一期星

Twelfth Month, Ninth Day 
Monday, December 9

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

德歲不時
日支將陰
Timely Yin
Not General
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days

————

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

亥未卯
吉吉中

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

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

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

 ————

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

忌
產修栽結
室置種網

Binding Nets
Planting and Cultivating
Repairing Rooms
Setting-up Production

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

四
庚

辰
金
畢
定

Fourteenth Day (Eleventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
牀交采祭
作易嫁祀
灶修娶祈
醞造裁福
釀 動衣會
納土移友
畜上居訂
安樑立婚
葬安約納

天死無月
牢氣祿忌

————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Cutting-out Clothing (Tailoring and Sewing)

Moving Residences

Making Appointments

Trade and Commerce

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Without Emolument
Death Vapor
Heavenly Penitentiary

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

White

 ————

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)

栖 磨 碓

Perch, Mortar, Pestle