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, April 30, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 05-01

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/6.................................................................................................................4/29
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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying 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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
一五
日月
二期星
Fifth Month, First Day 
Tuesday, May 1
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
歲合歲
祿日德
Generational Virtue
Linked Days
Generational Emolument

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

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
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.
                             —————————————————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
除遠詞
服行訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
十
六
癸
巳
水
觜
除
Sixteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: guisi (30/60)
Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上安理
樑牀髮
安修沐
門造浴
作動掃
灶土舎
伐堅拆
木柱卸
星短
劫重下
煞日兀
————
Appropriate Activities
Patterning Hair
Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Rooms
Unhitching and Unloading
Positioning Beds
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Positioning Gates
Stove Work
Felling Timber

Short Star

Baleful Astral Influences
Lower Amputee
Doubled Days
 Plundered Balefulness

 ***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation***  
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
丫 人
Bifurcation, Person
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
占
牀 房
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)