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, June 23, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 06-23

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: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/26..............................................................................................................6/19
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
六期星
Sixth Month, Twenty-Third Day  
Saturday, June 23
————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不三普月鳳
將合護德凰
Phoenix
Lunar Virtue
Universal Protection
Three Linkages
Not General
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶凶
酉巳丑
吉吉中
戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯
吉中吉
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
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 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 Auspicious
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.
                             —————————————————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
取田吃作修
魚獵犬灶廚
Kitchen Repairs
Stove Work
Consuming Caninity
Field Venery
Garnering Piscinity
初
十
丙
虛
土
胃
定
Tenth Day (Fifth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingxu (23/60)
Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Stomach (17/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
安上移訂祭
門樑徙婚祀
納醞修納祈
 畜釀造采福
成修動嫁會
服倉土娶友
安安堅裁出
葬牀柱衣行
不債
天死大 伏暗
  刑氣亡空斷金  
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Raising Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Positioning Gates
Livestock Payments
Completing Clothing 
Positioning Graves

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences
Dark Metal
Prostrate Severance
Great Loss-Void
Death Vapor
Heavenly Punishment
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
人 火
Person, Fire
———— 
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
栖 灶 廚
Perch, Stove, Kitchen
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