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.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 07-24

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/26..........................................................................................................................7/19

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 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
四期星
Seventh Month, Twenty-Fourth Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, July 24
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
除陽益歲
神德後馬
Generational Horse
Advantage After
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
凶凶
酉己丑
吉吉
戌午寅
吉中
亥未卯
吉吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
09:00-11:00 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

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) 

修安作修
倉牀灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Positioning Beds
Repairing Granaries
—————————————————  
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






Twenty-eighth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingshen (33/60)
Phase (element):  Fire
Constellation: Astride (15/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)
—————————————————  
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
開交掃祭
渠易舍祀
栽修醫裁
種造病衣
除動開移
服土市徙
安上立沐
葬樑約浴
口猴
陰劫五無
將煞虛祿
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Bubbling and Bathing
Sweeping Rooms
Physician Treatments
Opening Markets
Setting-up Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Building
Moving Soil
Putting-up Beams
Opening Sluices
Planting and Cultivating
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Monkey Mouth

Baleful Astral Influences
Without Emolument
Five Voids
Plundered Balefulness
Yin General
————

  Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 火

Bifurcation, Fire
————

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

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