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 6, 2020

China's Lunar Calendar 2020 02-06

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/13..........................................................................................................2/6
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-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


四期星
Second Month, Sixth Day 
Thursday, February 6
————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
不天進麒
將恩神麟
Unicorn
Entering Spirits
Heavenly Kindness
Not General
————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰
中吉
酉巳丑

戌午寅

亥未卯
吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
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 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious
 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

塞補開穿
穴垣池井
Boring Wells
Opening Ponds
Patching Embankments
Plugging Caves
 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information





Thirteenth Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jimao (16/60)
Phase (element): Earth
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Discard (2/12)
*Occasionally a "day personality" is repeated, as it is today.
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

動醫納祭
土病采祀
安立嫁會
牀約娶友
修交理出
倉易髮行
除修掃訂
服造舎婚
忌楊
朱大大咸
雀敗時池
————
Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Physician Treatments
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Positioning Beds
Repairing Granaries
Discarding Clothing

Poplar Taboo

Baleful Astral Influences
Widespread Pond
Great Timeliness
Great Defeat
Vermilion Bird

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
白 林
White, Copse
 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation for is under the bottom characters)
門 大 占
Gate, Great, Divination

No comments:

Post a Comment