「我很喜歡傳統掛曆呢，設計很好看，又聰明。」
讀著插畫師寄來的電郵時，我不自覺地對著螢幕點頭，轉眼又盯著之前拜託她畫的傳統掛曆；那綠油油的、放大的清晰數字體，下面排列著密密麻麻的資訊，設計簡約又大方，看著看著時心頭就有一種快意。
現在看到的這種老式掛牆手撕日曆，已是二十世紀中旬的產物，偌大的字體顯示出公曆、農曆和二十四節氣。公曆是世界通行的曆法，這裡無須贅言，至於農曆則是混合了陽、陰曆的一部曆法，而由此衍生出的二十四節氣，記錄太陽在整整一年的移動軌跡，是農人們播種和收割時的依據。至於在其下頭載有的「沖煞忌宜」等資訊，則是在那個科學不昌明的年代裡，尋常百姓們的生活百科。
當然，在這個人手一支手機的年代，實在沒有必要另添一副日曆。只是我最近發現到，這種幾乎從生活舞台中隱退的手撕日曆，出奇地與現代人講求的簡約、素淨的室內設計風格吻合。想像日曆被釘在客廳的白牆時，樣子顯得份外醒目，就像綠色植物般令人願意親近，老是想要盯著它一直看。
“I like traditional wall calendars very much. Their design is very pretty and smart.”
When I was reading this email from the illustrator, I could not help but nod at the computer screen. My eyes then quickly turned to the traditional wall calendar I asked her to draw earlier. Clear and enlarged number font in lush green, with densely packed information under it, its design both simple and presentable. A sense of joy wells up in mind just by looking at it.
This type of tear-off daily wall calendar you see here dates back to the mid-20th century, with large fonts showing Gregorian calendar, rural calendar as well as the twenty-four solar terms. Gregorian calendar is an internationally accepted civil calendar that requires no extra explanation. As for the rural calendar, it combines features of both the solar and lunar calendars, thus giving birth to the twenty-four solar terms that record the movement of the sun throughout the year. That was what peasants referred to for sowing seeds and harvests. As for the information at the bottom, including favorable activities and those to be avoided for the day, it served as a household encyclopedia for ordinary citizens back at a time when science was not as advanced.
Certainly, in this era when everyone is armed with a mobile phone, there is actually no practical need to buy an extra calendar. It is just that recently I have come to notice that this type of tear-off daily calendar, which has almost disappeared from our life, matches surprisingly well with the interior design style of simplicity and neatness pursued by modern-age citizens. Imagine how smart the calendar looks, being pinned on the white wall, just like a green plant that invites intimacy; you cannot help but want to stare at it all the time.
