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, February 25, 2016

China's Lunar Calendar 2016 02-25

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/29..............................................................................................................2/21
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
廿
期星
Second Month, Twenty-Fifth Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, February 25
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
德歲
日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
中吉
酉己丑
吉吉
戌午寅
中吉
亥未卯
凶凶
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

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

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

動理
土髮
Patterning Hair
Moving Soil
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 







Eighteenth Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: dingchou (14/60)
Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Dipper (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12) 
————————————————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
交祭
易祀 
補裁
垣衣
塞安
穴牀
伐立
木約


血下
支兀
————
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Cutting-out Clothing
Positioning Beds
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves
Felling Timber  

Soil Palace

 Baleful Astral Influences
Lower Amputee
Blood Branch
 ———— 

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
White
———— 

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

厠 庫 
Granary
Toilet, Storehouse

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