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.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

China's Lunar Calendar 2016 07-30

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/2...............................................................................................................7/26
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
三
十
六期星
Seventh Month, Thirtieth Day
Astral Period Six
Saturday, July 30
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
德歲
日支 
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
————

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

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 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) 
忌
開詞
市訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Opening Markets
————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿
七
癸
丑
木
柳
破
Twenty-Seventh Day (Sixth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: guichou (50/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Destroy (7/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
破
屋
壞
垣
債月
不破
朱大
雀耗
————
Appropriate Activities
Destroying Rooms
Smashing Embankments   

Baleful Astral Influences
Lunar Repression
Great Squander
Debt Not
Vermilion Bird
————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫 州
Bifurcation, Landmass
———— 

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
房
厠 牀
Edifice
Toilet, Bed
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)