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, October 31, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-31

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/7............................................................................................................10/30
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

三期星
Tenth Month, Thirty-First Day  
Wednesday, October 31
————

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
生月天歲
氣德德馬
Generational Equinity
Heavenly Exemplarity
Lunar Exemplarity
Engendered Vapor

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

酉巳丑
吉中
戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯
吉吉中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

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

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious
 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

伐安作修
木牀灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Felling Timber

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
廿





Twenty-Third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)
Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Winnowing Basket (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
上理出祭
樑髮行祀
穿開嫁祈
井市娶福
修修納入
倉造采學
置動移會
產土徙友
痕水
招厭無月
搖對祿忌
 ————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Boring Wells
Repairing Granaries
Setting-up Production

Water Scar

Baleful Asterisms
Lunar Taboo
Without Emolument
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio
 ————

Section Seven
Person
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
爐 灶 廚
Furnace, Stove, Kitchen

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-30

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/7............................................................................................................10/30
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

二期星
Tenth Month, Thirtieth Day  
Tuesday, October 30
————

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
母麒
倉麟
Unicorn
Maternal Granary

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

酉巳丑
凶凶
戌午寅
吉中吉
亥未卯
吉中吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
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 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious
 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

時栽
插種
Planting and Cultivating
Timely Injections

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
廿





Twenty-Second Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: yiwei (32/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Tail (7/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)








月大
 刑亡空
朱下
雀兀
 ————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Binding Nets
Seizing and Capturing (Trapping)
Garnering Piscinity (Fishing)

Baleful Asterisms
Great Loss-Void
Lower Amputee
Lunar Punishment
Vermilion Bird
 ————

Section Seven
人 州
Person, Landmass
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities 

厠 磨
Pestle
Toilet, Mortar

Monday, October 29, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-29

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/29............................................................................................................10/21
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-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
一期星
Tenth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day  
Monday, October 29
————

Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
進天三歲
神喜合支
Generational Branch
Three Linkages
Heavenly Happiness
Entering Spirits

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰
凶凶
酉巳丑
吉中吉
戌午寅

亥未卯
中吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between
 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

搭苫出開
厠蓋財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Thatched Coverings
Building Toilets (Outhouses)

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
廿





Twenty-First Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jiawu (31/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Heart-Mind (6/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
動醫納入
土病采學
上開嫁會
樑市娶友
作交裁出
灶易衣行
安修移訂
葬造徙婚
煞班
陰天刀九
 將刑砧鬼土
 ————
Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Residences
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Positioning Graves

Classified Balefulness

Baleful Asterisms
Nine Ghost-Soils
Sword Anvil
Heavenly Punishment
Yin General
 ————

Section Seven
白 水
White, Water
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities
碓 門 占
Pestle, Gate, Divination