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.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

China's Lunar Calendar 2018 07-18

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/25..........................................................................................................7/18
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-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying 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. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
十
八
三期星
Seventh Month, Eighteenth Day  
Wednesday, July 18
————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
十陰月麒
靈德恩麟
Unicorn
Lunar Kindness
Yin Exemplarity
Ten Spirits
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中凶中
酉巳丑
凶凶凶
戌午寅
吉吉吉
亥未卯
中吉吉
23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

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

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
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.
                             —————————————————
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
除嫁造合
服娶酒醬
Mixing Sauces
Making Liquor
Marriage Alliances
Discarding Clothing
初
六
辛
亥
金
壁
定
Sixth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: xinhai (48/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Eastern Wall (14/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
開交行祭
倉易納祀
出修采祈
貨造裁福
財動衣入
作土移學
灶上徙會
納樑立友
畜修約出

招厭死重
搖對氣日
 ————
Appropriate Activities 
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing 
Moving Residences
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries*
Opening Trade*
Capital Outlay*
Stove Work
Livestock Payments 
*The following characters are seriously out of order;
I have done my best to put them into their proper categories.

Baleful Astral Influences
Doubled Days
Death Vapor
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio
***Check out the full explanation of today's lunar-solar calendar translation*** 
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
白 人
牀 灶 廚
Bed, Stove, Kitchen
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