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.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-10

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/15.........................................................................................................................8/8

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

期星
Eighth Month, Tenth Day
Astral Period Sun
Sunday, August 10
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
母四天
倉相德
Heavenly Virtue
Four Facings
Maternal Granary
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉吉
酉己丑
吉吉吉
戌午寅
吉中
亥未卯
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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) 

取田詞
魚獵訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Heavenly Venery
Garnering Fish
—————————————————  
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 







Fifteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: House (4/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)
—————————————————  
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
元中
————
動出祭
土行祀
上訂祈
樑婚福
安裁會
葬移友
將陽
歸小牛
忌耗口
Ghost Festival
(the full moon of the seventh lunar month, when all departed souls are about)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Patterning Clothing
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Graves

Yang General

Baleful Astral Influences
Ox Mouth
Small Squander
Return Taboo
————

  Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 

Bifurcation
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information

厠 牀
Edifice
Toilet, Bed

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