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, August 16, 2015

China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-16

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/18.........................................................8/14........Monthly Calendar Information
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

期星
Eighth Month, Sixteenth Day
Astral Period Sun
Sunday, August 16
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
進時德歲
神德日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Timely Virtue
Entering Spirits
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
吉吉吉
酉己丑
中中
戌午寅
凶凶
亥未卯
中吉中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
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 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) 

成除出開
服靈財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Expelling Spirits
Completing Clothing
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 







Third Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jiazi (1/60)
Phase (element): Metal
Constellation: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
安移訂祭
牀徙婚祀
作修納祈
灶造采福
醞動嫁會
釀土娶友
納上裁出
畜樑衣行
不債
復死鼠下
喪氣口兀
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Positioning Beds
Stove Work
Fermenting Beverages
Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences
Lower Amputee
Rat Mouth
Death Vapor
Repeat Mourning

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

White
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous
碓 門 占
Pestle, Gate, Divination

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