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, August 6, 2015

China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-06

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/13................................................................................................................8/6
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

四期星
Eighth Month, Sixth Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, August 6
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
五母月天
富倉德德
Heavenly Virtue
Lunar Virtue
Maternal Granary
Five Wealths
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉中
酉己丑
吉中
戌午寅

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

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

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
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) 

祈祭出開
福祀財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






Twenty-Second Day (Sixth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jiayin (51/60)
Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Horn (1/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
作修裁會
灶造衣友
修動移出
倉土徙行
栽上開嫁
種樑市娶
安安交納
葬牀易采
兀下
陽游八虎
將禍專口
————
Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Repairing Granaries
Planting and Cultivating
Positioning Graves

Lower Amputee
 

Baleful Astral Influences
Tiger Mouth
Eight Specialties
Natatorial Disaster
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

Person
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous
爐 門 占
Furnace, Gate, Divination

No comments:

Post a Comment