China's Lunar Calendar 2018 03-08

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/8.....................................................................................................................3/1

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
八
日

四期星

Third Month, Eighth Day 
Thursday, March 8

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天合月麒
喜日德麟

Phoenix
Lunar Virtue
Linked Days
Heavenly Happiness

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶吉
酉己丑
凶凶凶
戌午寅

中吉吉
亥未卯
凶吉吉

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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.
                             —————————————————

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

忌
成除裁嫁
服靈衣娶

Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿
一
己

亥

木
井
成

Twenty-First Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jihai (36/60)

Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Well (22/28)
"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
開交納祈
渠易采福
作修移入
灶造徙學
栽動醫會
種土病友 
日重
元刀猪短
武砧口星

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Opening Sluices
Stove Work
Planting and Cultivating

Doubled Days

Baleful Astral Influences

Short Star
Hog Mouth
Sword Anvil
Primal Martiality

 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
人

Person
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 門 占

Bed, Gate, Divination