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, February 29, 2016

China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-29

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/29..............................................................................................................2/21
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
廿
期星
Second Month, Twenty-Ninth Day
Astral Period One
Monday, February 29
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
德歲
合月
Generational Lunarity
Virtuous Linkage
—————————————————

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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) 

遠醞
行釀
Fermenting Beverages
Distant Journeys
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿







Twenty-Second Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: xinsi (18/60)
Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Danger (12/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12) 
————————————————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
————

————
重上
日兀
————
Appropriate Activities  
Leveling Roads
Painting and Adorning Embankments and Walls

Grasses and Trees Sprout Forth
(the sixth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)  

Baleful Astral Influences
Upper Amputee
Doubled Days
 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
Person, Spirit
———— 

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

牀 灶 
Kitchen
Bed, Stove

Sunday, February 28, 2016

China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-28

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/29..............................................................................................................2/21
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
廿
期星
Second Month, Twenty-Eighth Day
Astral Period Sun
Sunday, February 28
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
三歲
合支
Generational Branch
Three Linkages
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子

酉己丑
中吉吉
戌午寅
亥未卯
吉吉中
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 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

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

行結
喪網
Binding Nets
Mourning Visits
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






滿
Twenty-First Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)
Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12) 
————————————————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)








三短
喪星
復龍
喪口
————
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves  

Baleful Astral Influences
Short Star
Dragon Orifice
Three Mournings
Repeat Mournings
 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
人 地
Person, Earth
———— 

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

栖 磨 
Pestle
Perch, Mortar