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, November 25, 2013

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 11-25

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT December 2.........................................................................................November 25 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

期星
  Eleventh Month, Twenty-fifth Day
Astral Period One
Monday, November 25
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
月天天天
恩醫喜德
Heavenly Virtue
Heavenly Happiness
Heavenly Physician
Lunar Kindness
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉中吉
酉己丑

戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯
中吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
進新時栽
水船插種
Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections
New Boats
Entering Water
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






Twenty-third Day (Tenth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: yiwei (32/60)
Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Drawn Bow (26/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

修交訂祭
倉易婚祀
安修納祈
牀造采福
作動裁入
灶土衣學
安上開會
葬樑市友
忌陽
伏暗月水
斷金忌痕
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Poplar Taboo

Miscellaneous Information  
Water Scar
Lunar Taboo
Darkened Metal
Prostration Cut-off

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)

Person
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(Top to bottom; right to left)
厠 磨 碓
Toilet, Mortar, Pestle

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