Megalithic Calendar

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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby hvered » 11:48 am

The beginning of Cancer marks the Summer solstice doesn't it?

A midsummer festival isn't in itself evidence of 'sun worship' but the quote suggests that watching the midsummer sunrise at Stonehenge, which seems to be the site described, was as much fun a millennium ago as now.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 7:48 pm

Thanks to Hattie for a nudge back towards the OP

The four Druid Solar Festival events:

Winter Solstice = Alban Arthan [the Light of Arthur] = December 21st
Spring Equinox = Alban Eilir [the Light of the Earth] = April 21st
Summer Solstice = Alban Hefin (The Light of the Shore) = June 21st or 22nd
Autumnal Equinox = Alban Elfed or Light of the Water = September 21st

But there also exist four more times in the year which were also considered sacred.

Samhuinn = between October 31st and November 2nd, was "a time of no-time (and) time was abolished for the three days of this festival". This was adopted by Christians. All Hallows [or Hallowe'en) on October 31st, All Saints [November 1st], All Souls [November 2nd].

Imbolc = February 1st = Candlemas , often used as a time for an Eisteddfod dedicated to poetry and song

Beltane = May 1st = May Day

Lughnasadh = August 1st = Lammas, beginning of harvest time
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 7:48 pm

Middle Earth as well?

It’s worthy of note that Tolkien’s hobbit calendar (see the Appendices in the Lord of the Rings) has 12 months of 30 days each. The first and the last day of the year did not belong to any month, and in midyear there was a 3-day holiday (like the Druid the time of no time). When the 1/4 adds up to a whole day, they added an extra day to the turning of the year.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 10:22 pm

I'm on the hunt for other calenders that coincide with the Druid Calender.

For a while, I though I had it with the Calendar of Enoch. Superficially, the Calendar of Enoch has some similarities. The Calendar of Enoch divided the year into four seasons of exactly 13 weeks each, and it emphasizes the four natural divisions of the year. With twelve months of 30 days and 4 other days which are quarter-year markers for the four seasons, or Holy-Days.

It's a well-structured calendar. Not only does it have the same number of days every month, but every quarter-year contains 91 days, which is exactly 13 weeks. Add one Annual Holiday at the start of the year (which could be in Spring, but could be put in mid winter as now), and every few years, one more Leap Day, to keep the start of the cycle in time with Sirius Rising (as in the Egyptian Calendar).

But it doesn’t have the “time of no-time” , the three days of Samhuinn. So I've started looking elsewhere. How about the Ethiopian and Coptic Egyptian calendars? I'm told that:
The Ethiopic and Coptic calendars have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not.
Ref: https://tseday.wordpress.com/2008/09/14 ... -calendar/

I'd be very grateful for any insight into any other calenders that have similarities. Otherwise I might be clutching at straws, and/or leaping to assumptions like Druids and Egypt are similar.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby TisILeclerc » 11:05 pm

Calendars can be very complicated. To my eyes at least.

How about the lunisolar year?

'A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year, then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year, then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moon may occur. Usually there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months, in which case most years have 12 months but every second or third year has 13.'

This page on wiki also gives links to a variety of ancient calendars.

'The Hebrew, Buddhist, Hindu, Kurdish, Bengali, and Tibetan calendars, as well as the traditional Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mongolian and Korean calendars, plus the ancient Hellenic, Coligny, and Babylonian calendars are all lunisolar. Also some of the ancient pre-Islamic calendars in South Arabia followed a lunisolar system.[1] The Chinese, Coligny and Hebrew[2] lunisolar calendars track more or less the tropical year whereas the Buddhist and Hindu lunisolar calendars track the sidereal year. Therefore, the first three give an idea of the seasons whereas the last two give an idea of the position among the constellations of the full moon. The Tibetan calendar was influenced by both the Chinese and Hindu calendars. The Germanic peoples also used a lunisolar calendar before their conversion to Christianity.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar

The metonic cycle combines lunar and solar years in a nineteen year period.

'For astronomy and calendar studies, the Metonic cycle or Enneadecaeteris (from Ancient Greek: ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίς, "nineteen years") is a period of very close to 19 years that is remarkable for being nearly a common multiple of the solar year and the synodic (lunar) month. The Greek astronomer Meton of Athens (fifth century BC) observed that a period of 19 years is almost exactly equal to 235 synodic months and, rounded to full days, counts 6,940 days. The difference between the two periods (of 19 years and 235 synodic months) is only a few hours, depending on the definition of the year.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonic_cycle

Closer to home and perhaps the druids is the Norwegian Runic calendar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_calendar

'The runic inscriptions of the Franks Casket (7th century) seem to constitute a lunisolar calendar. While the number of runes can be seen as a 10 year solar calendar (10 for eternal), their runic value stands for the lunar counterpart. Both calendars seem to be “synchronized” by a Latin fragment which is inserted into the Anglo-Saxon text[2]. It consists of 20 letters (12 uncials, 2 half uncials, 6 runes), thus creating a sequence of ordinary years of 12 months and embolismic years of 13 months. If we figure the value of this text by the position of the characters according to the fuþorc we count 238. A Metonic cycle of 19 years counts 235 lunations; in this particular case the rune master needed 3 more lunations to take his protégé from death in Midwinter to life – here a pagan resurrection into Valhalla – at Easter.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_calendar

This site goes into more detail of the Primstav and shows how Christianity added saints to the various times of the year. It may be that these 'saints' are saints of convenience and represent a much older naming system.

http://www.digitalkunst.com/NewFiles/primstav.html

'The symbols tell an interesting story. Pagan symbols remained, not only because they were so much a part of the ancient culture but also the church had retained some of the pagan celebrations and had given them religious significance. Other symbols reflected stories told of the apostles, saints, and martyrs. Still others were tied to the daily work of the bonde - farming, fishing and struggling to exist. The meaning of some of the symbols on this stick are unclear and your own interpretation of them may be clearer than those given here.'

Happy hunting.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 1:12 pm

While hunting round t'interweb on the similarities between the Greek and Phoenician alphabets, I've turned-up a number of "toys out the pram" articles on who has pride of place, and which came first. Some folk get rather nationalistic about the subject, almost like asking Australian and British persons who has the best cricket team.

Will the same be true of Greek, Phoenician, Babylonian and Jewish calendars? if this is anything to go by - http://www.cogeternal.org/text/004hebrewcalreliable.htm - it does look that way (going down the Worlds in Collision rabbit hole).

Careful reconnaisance required to circumvent calendrical claymores?

Anyway, today's turned-up treat is an article on the Phoenician alphabet and the Chinese calendar signs, the tiangan dizhi. Both have 22 characters, and Julie Lee Wei suggests they are the same.

Indeed, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the 22 letters of the ancient Phoenician alphabet and the 22 of the Chinese ganzhi, a correspondence that seems to have been established in the early years of the Shang dynasty. In addition to phonetic and graphic correspondence, I have found that they also correspond in meaning.

Summary: http://www.sino-platonic.org/abstracts/ ... habet.html
Full article (80 page PDF): http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/s ... _signs.pdf
Last edited by Boreades on 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby spiral » 7:51 am

It's all interesting.

I simply don't think it's the right track to follow.


None of this is going to help me bag a hare or hook a trout.......
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 9:01 am

Point me in the direction of the right track to follow, and I'll be off down it like a, err, hare.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby TisILeclerc » 9:27 am

You'll never bag the sharp grey one in a month of Sundays.

But the speckled one can be guddled but not hooked any day.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 2:09 pm

Thanks to Tisi for a reminder about the Metonic cycle. I had a feeling I'd seen mention of it in a megalithic context a while ago, but it took me a while to find it. See how the Metonic interval V,62,67 was recorded on a 5,000-year-old stone at Knowth.

Image
Ref : http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancients ... stone.html

The same site has a very nice worked example of a Metonic cycle.
http://www.mythicalireland.com/astronom ... cycle.html
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