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.

Sunday, May 31, 2020

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-31

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/3..............................................................................................................5/27
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 tha"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 calendarSome 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

期星
Fifth Month, Thirty-First Day 
Sunday, May 31
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不解
將神
Unleashing Spirits
Not General

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

酉巳丑
中吉吉
戌午寅

亥未卯
吉吉
23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

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

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

出開
財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow

Section Five 
Cosmological Information





Ninth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jiaxu (11/60)
Phase (element): Fire
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
理祭
髮祀
動嫁
土娶
安納
牀采



火長
星星
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds

Grain Ripens
(the twenty-fourth of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences
Long Star
Fire Star

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
人 地
Person, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

栖 碓
Gate
Perch, Pestle

Saturday, May 30, 2020

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-30

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/3..............................................................................................................5/27
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 tha"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 calendarSome 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

六期星
Fifth Month, Thirtieth Day 
Saturday, May 30
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
時要三民
陰安合日
Peopled Days
Three Linkages
Urgent Calm
Timely Yin

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

亥未卯
凶凶凶
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

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

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

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

產修栽詞
室置種訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Planting and Cultivating
Repairing Rooms 
Setting-up Construction

Section Five 
Cosmological Information





Eighth Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
樑開采入
醞市嫁學
釀交娶出
修易裁行
倉修衣赴
納造移任
畜動徙訂
安土理婚
葬上髮納

陰朱死五
將雀氣離
————
Appropriate Activities
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Taking-up Office
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Residences
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Fermenting Beverages
Repairing Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Baleful Astral Influences
Five Separations
Death Vapor
Vermilion Bird
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
人 林
Person, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)
門 牀 房
Gate, Bed, Edifice

Friday, May 29, 2020

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 05-29

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
6/3..............................................................................................................5/27
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 tha"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 calendarSome 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

五期星
Fifth Month, Twenty-Ninth Day 
Friday, May 29
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
五歲
富祿
Generational Emolument
Five Abundances

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰
吉吉
酉巳丑
吉吉吉
戌午寅
凶凶
亥未卯
吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

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

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

安開
牀渠
Opening Sluices
Positioning Beds

Section Five 
Cosmological Information







Seventh Day (Intercalary Fourth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: renshen (9/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)
————

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








復楊
喪忌
上水
兀痕
————
Appropriate Activities
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Leveling Roadways
Adorning Embankments

Baleful Astral Influences
Poplar Taboo
Water Scar
Repeat Mourning
Upper Amputee

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白 天
White, Heaven
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)

爐 庫
Granary
Furnace, Storehouse