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, December 15, 2014

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 12-15

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
12/21.........................................................................................................................12/13

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


一期星
Twelfth Month, Fifteenth Day
Astral Period One
Monday, December 15
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
除天青歲
神喜龍馬
Generational Horse
Blue-Green Dragon
Heavenly Happiness
Expelling Spirits
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉吉
酉己丑
中吉吉
戌午寅
凶凶凶
亥未卯
中吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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) 

築動安結
提土牀綱
Binding Nets
Positioning Beds
Moving Soil
Constructing Dikes
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿




Twenty-Fourth Day (Tenth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: gengshen (57/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
作開裁入
灶市衣學
納立移會
畜約徙友
成交理出
服易髮行
安上醫納
葬樑病采
離五
陽大土猴
將煞符口
————
Appropriate Activities 
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Putting-up Beams
Stove Work
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing
Positioning Beds

Five Separations

Baleful Astral Influences
Monkey Mouth
Earth Charm
Great Balefulness
Yang General
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 地
White, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous
爐 磨 碓
Furnace, Mortar, Pestle

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