China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-05

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
Today's date:                                                                                                    * 

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 calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar 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.

 

Section One
Solar Calendar Date

五

日

二期星

Third month, fifth day

Astral Period Two

(Tuesday, March 5) 

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Section Two

Beneficent Stars

臨時三時

日陰日德
Timely Virtue

Three Suns

Timely Yin

Encountering Sun

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Section Three
Auspicious Hours
申辰子

凶中凶

酉己丑

中吉中

戌午寅

凶吉吉

亥未卯

凶吉中

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious
The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
 

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Section Four
Activities to Avoid 

 忌 
除動塔結
服土厠綱
 Binding Nets
Building Outhouses
Moving Soil
Discarding Clothing

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 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿

四
庚

午

土
室

定

Twenty-fourth day (first lunar month)

Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Room (13/28)

Jianchu Cycle: Decide (5/12)

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information)

蟄驚

——————————

十十酉

五八正

分時     

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宜

上移嫁祭

樑徙娶祀

安開納出

葬市采行

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 華始桃

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 陽死復地

將氣喪囊

Insects Awaken
(the third of twenty-four "solar year" periods)
Begins in the middle of the you hour, at 18:15

Appropriate Activities

Paying Reverence

Going Out (and about)

Marriage Ceremonies

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Opening Markets

Erecting Beams

Positioning Graves 

Peaches Begin to Flower

(the seventh of seventy-two "mini-cycles" in the solar year) 

Miscellaneous Information

Earth Duffel

Repeat Mourning

Death Vapor

Yang General

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 Section Seven
Inauspicious Star
白   火
White, Fire

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Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities 

磨 碓 占

Pestle, Perch, Divination