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.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 06-25

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT June 29.....................................................................................................June 22 RIGHT
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
(top to bottom; right to left) 
廿

二期星
Sixth Month, Twenty-fifth Day
Astral Period Two
Tuesday, June 25
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
時德歲
陰日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Yin Temporality
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
凶凶凶
酉己丑
中吉中
戌午寅
中中吉
亥未卯
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 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) 
動放開
土水渠
Opening Suices
Putting-into Water
Moving Soil
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 







Eighteenth Day (fifth lunar month)
Cyclical day: renxu (59/60)
Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Room (13/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information)
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
 
上嫁祭
樑娶祀
安納祈
門采福
作移會
灶居友
納開出
畜市行
囊地
陰天死
將刑氣
Appropriate Activities   
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Erecting Beams
Positioning Doors
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Earth Duffel

Miscellaneous Information    
Death Vapor
Heavenly Punishment
Yin General
 —————————————————  
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(right to left)
白 火
White, Fire
—————————————————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
(Top to bottom; right to left) 

栖 庫
Granary
Perch, Storehouse

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