Note 4 — III.—DAYS AND SEASONS.

A book in popular circulation in Southern China called the 黃歴通書 (hwang-li-tung-shu) gives an exhaustive return of lucky and unlucky days, from which I extract the following information. It must be premised that the 365 days of the year are divided into sets of twelve days, each being under the supposed influence of a certain planet, a certain zodiacal sign,4 a certain terrestrial element and one of the twenty-eight “lunar mansions.” There is a further series of twelve terms, expressing the lucky or unlucky characters of given days which in the eyes of the people embody the result total of the astrological bearings of any given day. They are thus arranged and named, though it does not follow that the terms will in any given month agree with the dates here stated:—