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.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 05-23

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/28..................................................................................................................5/20
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
廿
三
三期星
Fifth Month, Twenty-Third Day 
Wednesday, May 23
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
六歲德歲
合支日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Generational Branch
Six Linkages

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

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
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.
                             —————————————————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
裁開穿栽
衣池井種
Planting and Cultivating
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds
Cutting-out Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
初
九
乙
卯
水
壁
開
Ninth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: yimao (52/60)
Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Jade Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
上開出祭
樑市行祀
修交嫁祈
倉易娶福
置修納入
產造采學
納動移會
畜土徙友
星長
陽天班下
將火煞兀
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Setting-up Production
Livestock Payments

Long Star

Baleful Astral Influences
Lower Amputee
Classified Balefulness
Heavenly Fire
Yang General
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
人 人
Person, Person
———— 

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
(top-to-bottom; left to right)
門 磨 碓
Gate, Mortar, Pestle
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