China's Lunar Calendar 2018 03-17

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

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

3/20....................................................3/17.................Monthly Calendar Information

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
十
七

六期星

Third Month, Seventeenth Day 
Saturday, March 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

解歲歲
神馬德

Generational Virtue
Generational Horse
Unleashing Spirits

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

亥未卯
中吉中

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

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

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
安置置
牀產田

Setting-up Fields
Setting-up Production
Positioning Beds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初
一
戊

申
土

氐
執

FIrst Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wushen (45/60)

Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Foundation (3/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上掃出
樑舎行
捕修裁
捉造衣
除動移
服土居
痕水
俱劫小
 將煞亡空

————

Appropriate Activities
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Seizing and Capturing
Discarding Clothing

Water Scar

 Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Plundered Balefulness
Everything General
 
Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars
白 水

White, Water
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
房
爐 牀 

Edifice
Furnace, Bed