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, October 27, 2013

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 10-27

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT November 2..................................................................................................October 26 RIGHT
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 calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar 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.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left) 
廿

期星
  Tenth Month, Twenty-seventh Day
Astral Period Sun
Sunday, October 27
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
月天
德德
Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
酉己丑
中中
戌午寅
中吉中
亥未卯
中吉
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
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
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.
————————————————— 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
祭作
祀灶
Stove Work
Venerating Ancestors
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿





Twenty-third Day (Ninth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingyin (3/60)
Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Asterism (25/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
 
成會
服友
除修
服造
啟動
攢土
安安
葬碓


上月
兀忌
Appropriate Activities  
Meeting Friends
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Positioning Pestles
Completing Clothing
Discarding Clothing
Start Accumulating
Positioning Graves

Death Vapor

Miscellaneous Information  
Lunar Taboo
Upper Amputee
————
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
白 火 
White, Fire
————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
(Top to bottom; right to left)

爐 灶
Kitchen
Furnace, Stove

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