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 9, 2015

China's Lunar Calendar 2015 06-09

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/15..............................................................................................................6/7
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

二期星
Sixth Month, Ninth Day
Astral Period Two
Tuesday, June 9
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
時月
德德
Lunar Virtue
Timely Virtue
—————————————————

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

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) 

作修
灶廚
Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿




Twenty-Third Day (Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingchen (53/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
動祭
土祀
開出
市行
上嫁
樑娶
置移
產徙


陽月
將忌
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Residences
Moving Soil
Opening Markets
Raising Beams
Starting Production

Five Voids

Baleful Astral Influences
Lunar Taboo
Yang General
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

White
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous

栖 灶
Kitchen
Perch, Stove

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