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, August 30, 2014

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-30

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/6.........................................................................  ...........................................8/30

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 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

六期星
Eighth Month, Thirtieth Day
Astral Period Six
Saturday, August 30
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不陰四天
將德相德
Heavenly Virtue
Four Facings
Yin Virtue
Not General
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉吉
酉己丑
中吉吉
戌午寅
中中
亥未卯
凶凶
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
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 In-Between

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) 

作塞補詞
灶穴垣訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves
Stove Work
—————————————————  
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 



Sixth Day Day (Eighth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: guiyou (10/60)
Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)
—————————————————  
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

倉動裁祭
出土衣祀
貨豎理祈
財柱髮福
納上掃訂
畜樑舍婚
安修修納
葬開造采
離五
元大大咸
武敗時池
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Patterning Hair
Sweeping Rooms
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Erecting Pillars
Putting-up Beams
Repairing Granaries
Cash Outflow
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Five Separations

Baleful Astral Influences
Widespread Pond
Great Temporality
Great Defeat
Primal Martiality

  Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
丫 人
Bifurcation, Person
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information
門 牀 房
Gate, Bed, Edifice

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