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, January 31, 2024

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 01-31

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/1.................................................................................................................................................1/24


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. 

As for interpreting the translation, 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 tha"it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). 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 calendarSome of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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
                                              (top to bottom, right to left)
三期
First Month, Thirty-First Day
Wednesday, January 31
————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
進解
神神
Unleashed Spirits
Entering Spirits
————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left

申辰甲
酉巳丑
戌午寅
亥未卯
23:00-1:00 Inauspicious
1:00-3:00 Auspicious
3:00-5:00 Auspicious
5:00-7:00 In-Between

7:00-9:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between
————

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

出開
財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
廿
Twenty-First Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: jiawu (31/60)
Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality: Gathering (21/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Grasp (6/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top to bottom; left to right)
掃祭
舍祀
動出
土行
成裁
服衣
安理
葬髮
咸小
池耗
Appropriate Activities
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)
Sweeping Rooms
Moving Soil
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Five Voids

Baleful Asterisms
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Small Squander
Widespread Pond

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)
人 地
Person, Earth
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)
碓 門
Divination
Pestle, Gate

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 01-30

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/1................................................................................................................................................................................1/24


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. 

As for interpreting the translation, 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 tha"it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). 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 calendarSome of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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
                                       (top to bottom, right to left)
二期
First Month, Thirtieth Day
Tuesday, January 30
————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
歲合歲
馬日德
Generational Exemplarity
Linked Days
Generational Equinity
————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left

申辰甲
酉巳丑
戌午寅
亥未卯
凶凶
23:00-1:00 Auspicious
1:00-3:00 In-Between
3:00-5:00 In-Between
5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious
————

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

除遠詞
服行訟
Lawsuits and Litigation
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
Twentieth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: guisi (30/60)
Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality: Beak of the Turtle (20/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top to bottom; left to right)
動移會
土居友
上立訂
樑約婚
作交納
灶易采
納修裁
畜造衣
堅腹澤
死上重
氣兀日
Appropriate Activities
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)
Moving Households
Making Appointments
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Livestock Payments

Streams and Marshes Frozen Solid
(the seventy-second of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Doubled Days
Upper Amputee
Death Vapor

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)
白 林
White, Copse
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)
牀 房
Divination
Bed, Edifice

Monday, January 29, 2024

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 01-29

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
2/1................................................................................................................................................................................1/24


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. 

As for interpreting the translation, 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 tha"it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). 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 calendarSome of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

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
                                                 (top to bottom, right to left)
廿
一期
First Month, Twenty-Ninth Day
Monday, January 29
————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
天天
馬貴
Heavenly Nobility
Heavenly Equinity
————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left

申辰甲
酉巳丑
戌午寅
亥未卯
23:00-1:00 In-Between
1:00-3:00 Auspicious
3:00-5:00 Auspicious
5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious
————

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

放開
水渠
Opening Irrigation Sluices
Putting-into Water

Section Five 
Cosmological Information
Nineteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)
Cyclical Day: renxu (29/60)
Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality: Net (19/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)
————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top to bottom; left to right)
楊債
忌不
死河
神河
神魁
Appropriate Activities
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Binding Nets
Capital Payments
Seizing and Capturing
Positioning Graves

Baleful Asterisms
(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)
Debt Not
River Stalwart
Poplar Taboo
Death Spirit

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)
白 天
White, Heaven
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,
however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)
栖 庫
Granary
Perch, Storehouse