From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Monday, February 25, 2013

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 02-25

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

廿
五
一期星
Twenty-fifth Day
Astral Period One
(Monday, February 25) 
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars
天德歲
喜日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Heavenly Happiness

—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
申辰子
凶凶中
酉己丑
中吉中
戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯
凶吉吉
23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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 
 忌
栽放開
種水渠
Opening Sluices
Going into Water
Planting
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
十
六
壬
戌
水
心
成
Sixteenth day (first lunar month)
Cyclical day: renxu (59/60)
Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Heart (5/28)
Jianchu Cycle: Completion (9/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information)
宜
動裁祭
土衣祀
上開祈
樑市福
修交入
倉易學
安修會
葬造友
厭月
大地四
煞火擊
Appropriate Activities
Paying Reverence
Inquiring into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Cutting Out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Earth
Erecting Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Graves    
 
Lunar Repression
Miscellaneous Information
Four Beatings
Earth Fire
Big Baleful
 ————————————————— 
 Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫水
Bifurcation,Water
————————————————— 
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities 
倉
栖庫
Granary
Perch, Storehouse 
 
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