Megalithic Calendar

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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 8:12 pm

It's no surprise that the Metonic cycle features at Stonehenge as well.

The Tiverton and Mid Devon Astronomy Society points out that the bluestone horseshoe : "Consisting of 19 stones, the bluestone horseshoe (just inside the 5 sarsen trilithons) had a couple of possible uses. They could be used for counting the period from a full moon on a particular day of the year to the next full moon that falls on that day of the year, which would be 19 years later. Known as the Metonic cycle (after Meton, a 5th Century BC Greek astronomer), this is correct to around 2 hours. (Postins, 1982) It could also be used to follow the nodal cycle of the Moon, which has a period of 18.61 years. "

Ref: http://www.tivas.org.uk/stonehenge/stone_ast.html

I'd defer to Jon on that one, as that might be guesswork.

But the discovery of the Coligny Calendar in France moves us firmly into the realm of hard physical evidence.

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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 8:54 pm

In November 1897, a Monsieur Roux came across a buried statue of the Roman deity, Mars in a field north of Coligny, Ain, France. With it were the badly broken up remains of what had once been a large bronze plaque. There were c.153 individual fragments associated with the plaque, most of which bore some form of writing, accompanied by calibration marks and numerical values.

This is the calendar which was used in Gaul in the latter part of the BCE period and, possibly, into the beginning of the CE period. The workings of this calendar were preserved in a bronze tablet that was discovered buried near Coligny in France. This was, presumably, because the calendar was banned by the Romans as it was an indication of druidic practices and, more importantly, flouted the rule that the Julian calendar should be the official calendar in all parts of the Roman Empire.

According to the Coligny tablet, the Gaulish months, along with their respective lengths, were as follows:


Name Days
Samoni (Summer's End) 30
Dumannos (World Darkness) 29
Rivros (Cold & Ice) 30
Anagantios (Staying Home & Storing) 29
Ogroni (Cold's End) 30
Cutios (Wind) 30
{Ciallos Bis (Extra Moon)} {30}
Giamoni (Winter's End) 29
Semivisonna (Midsummer Brightness) 30
Equos (Horse) 29 {30}
Elembivos (Claim) 29
Edrinios (Arbitration) 30
Cantlos (Song) 29
{Ciallos Bis (Extra Moon)} {30}

See http://www.time-meddler.co.uk/gaulish.html

There remains only 45% of the original bronze plaque, which makes it difficult to decipher. The official measurements of the plaque are 1.48 metres long X .90 metres high (see: Astronomische Gesellschaft Meeting Abstracts, Abstracts of Contributed Talks and Posters presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft at Heidelberg, September 14--19, 1998, talk #J12 by Harald Gropp).

A bronze frame surrounds the more centrally inscribed region, creating both outer and inner rectangles. The inscribed region of the plaque was divided up into 16 equidistant vertical columns and 8 box segments within each of those columns. This provided a total of 128 boxes in which writing, numbers, day-marks or symbols of notation occurred. A space beneath the top perimeter frame contained no inscribing throughout the top horizontal length of the plaque to a depth of almost 6 cm.

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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 10:54 pm

How long do folktale memories last? Is it significant that this was found in France? I ask, because the last major effort to do-away with our Gregorian calendar seems to have been the French Republican Calendar.

The French Republican calendar was instituted in October 1792 as part of a move away from the establishment and the Christian systems that signified the old regime. The calendar was deemed to have begun on the autumnal equinox of that year, i.e. 22nd September 1792, that being named Year 1 of the Revolution. The calendar was modelled on the Egyptian calendar of 12 months of 30 days each, followed by five or six epagomenal days to keep it synchronised with the solar year.
Source: http://www.time-meddler.co.uk/french.html

Which sounds quite like a Druid calendar to me. How about you?

The French Republican Calendar (French: calendrier républicain français) or French Revolutionary Calendar (calendrier révolutionnaire français) was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871. The revolutionary system was designed in part to remove all religious and royalist influences from the calendar, and was part of a larger attempt at decimalisation in France (which also included decimal time of day, decimalisation of currency, and metrication).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

Ah, how times change!
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby spiral » 8:08 am

[quote="Boreades"]
The French Republican Calendar (French: calendrier républicain français) or French Revolutionary Calendar (calendrier révolutionnaire français) was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871. The revolutionary system was designed in part to remove all religious and royalist influences from the calendar, and was part of a larger attempt at decimalisation in France (which also included decimal time of day, decimalisation of currency, and metrication).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

Ah, how times change!

What goes around..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_ ... _notion%29
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby TisILeclerc » 11:00 am

Ah! Borreee mon brave citoyen. Ow poetic iz zee French language n'est ce pas?

Curiously those fine words in ancient Gaulish reminded me of something. We are told that nos ancetres les Gaulois spoke a Celtic language related to Welsh. Although it has been acknowledged that it was quite different from Breton which came from Cornwall and which is related to Welsh.

Something about those times of year reminded me more of Scots Gaelic. I may be wrong, probably am, but I'm sure that with a bit of imagination many of the words can be linked more to gaelic.

'According to the Coligny tablet, the Gaulish months, along with their respective lengths, were as follows:

Name Days (Gaelic suggestion)
Samoni (Summer's End) 30 samhradh, summer - samhna, Hallow tide
Dumannos (World Darkness) 29 dudeached, dubhlachd - depth of winter
Rivros (Cold & Ice) 30 reothadh, frost - fuarachd, coldness
Anagantios (Staying Home & Storing) 29
Ogroni (Cold's End) 30 criochnaich, end, finish
Cutios (Wind) 30 gaoth, oitead, wind
{Ciallos Bis (Extra Moon)} {30} gealach, moon
Giamoni (Winter's End) 29 geamhradh, winter
Semivisonna (Midsummer Brightness) 30 samhradh, summer - soillse , brightness
Equos (Horse) 29 {30} each, horse
Elembivos (Claim) 29
Edrinios (Arbitration) 30 eadar breith, arbitration
Cantlos (Song) 29 a'cantaill, to sing
{Ciallos Bis (Extra Moon)} {30} gealach, moon

If the fragments contained within the Gaulish are indeed close to the gaelic perhaps this suggests a connection with the early calendar makers who may well have been the old druids. Speaking of which could 'druid' be related to 'truth'?
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 10:15 pm

Ah, Tisi, mon brave, the French language is indeed poetic. It's a good job Number One Son is studying French, in between sampling the local brews. He is showing signs of being just as much of a poetic artist as his father, God bless him.

Regarding the names of the months in various languages, this looks like a time when inspired guesswork has to give way to some serious grunt, tabulating all the languages -v- the names of the months in each language. I expect the spanner in the works will be when the year starts in each language, and therefore which month appears first in the list in that language. Confusion in that direction will just give us a cross-threaded list.

Anyone known how to post an HTML table into TME posts?
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 11:22 pm

Somebody has already done some of the spade work, with native calendar terms in the Celtic languages, nicely tabulated in all these languages:
Proto-Celtic, Gaulish, Old Irish/Middle Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_cal ... _languages

But, frustratingly, not a tabulation of the names of the months. More mead and cider required.
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby spiral » 9:54 am

Boreades wrote:Somebody has already done some of the spade work, with native calendar terms in the Celtic languages, nicely tabulated in all these languages:
Proto-Celtic, Gaulish, Old Irish/Middle Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_cal ... _languages



Looking at the list Night might appear to be Nought/naught/nowt which might be interesting. As one of the problems with traditional chronology is the non appearance of zero, which we (duffos) are led to believe also put back maths for hundreds of years...CF Wight......
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby TisILeclerc » 5:06 pm

'But, frustratingly, not a tabulation of the names of the months. More mead and cider required.'

Frust ye nae longer Borry a'charaid. Here for your eddyfication is a site with the information you require.

Although it is said in the lands where the winds do blow that there weren't really any monthly names once upon a time. Most of it is to do with change in the weather and agriculture etc.

'The Gaelic year began in November following the festival of An Samhain (which evolved into Halloween); and it ushers in the first of the new seasons: winter. The cold was considered necessary to cleanse the land and prepare it for the new bountiful year ahead. In Gaelic it is rendered An Geamhrachd, coming from an early Celtic term for cold, which in turn comes from an even more ancient linguistic source for ‘stiff and rigid’, describing the frosty ground. Within An Geamhrachd there are the three ‘months’ of An Dubhlachd, Am Faoilleach and An Gearran, meaning – the Dark Days, the Wolf Month and the Cutting or Gelding Month respectively.


The ‘dark days’ certainly capture the essence of December with its long, long nights – always more bearable with a couple of single malts of course. The ‘wolf month’ takes us back to the harsh and hungry weeks of January and early February when the wolves came down from the hills to scavenge – it is a common theme in many traditional winter tales across northern Europe. The gelding or castration of the cattle took place in late February so to let the wounds heal better, and without the nuisance of flies. As you can see each month has a significant theme, folk memory or important task on the farm; and this is repeated throughout the year as it unfolds.'

You can read the rest of it here.

http://www.bletherskite.net/2011/12/06/ ... -calendar/

I've just been looking at translation sites and the Czech for 'Spring' is 'Jaro' which is rather similar to 'Earrach'

Presumably it is the same in all Slavic languages?

Anyway in honour of St George who seems to have a universal significance in all cultures non-celtic ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Day

... just to redress the balance so to speak, I think I'll get ready for the celebrations. I've started drinking in preparation for the Morris dancing but then I thought why not do it in style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFPOYKGvUik

It does seem to have that swaying feeling one gets with the Morris men after a hard day's drinking. All for a good cause though. Keeps the world turning in spite of what the mullah says

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/558 ... NOT-Rotate

Now that would bugger your calendars up Borry me lad
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Re: Megalithic Calendar

Postby Boreades » 9:40 pm

TisILeclerc wrote:Frust ye nae longer Borry a'charaid. Here for your eddyfication is a site with the information you require... You can read the rest of it here.... http://www.bletherskite.net/2011/12/06/ ... -calendar/


My goodness, that's a great find, thank you. Plus you found it on one of my favourite websites, so thanks again! (thumbs up icon)

Have you seen their latest on the fake Lord & Lady title sellers?
http://www.bletherskite.net/2015/02/13/ ... ent-115515
Well done them, I say, although please don't tell M'Lady Boreades (ssshhh icon)

TisILeclerc wrote:It does seem to have that swaying feeling one gets with the Morris men after a hard day's drinking. All for a good cause though. Keeps the world turning in spite of what the mullah says
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/558 ... NOT-Rotate
Now that would bugger your calendars up Borry me lad


Indeed you might well say bugger the calendars! Sadly there won't be much swaying round these parts for the next part of the Liturgical Calendar, as M'Lady and I are threatening to abstain from the demon drink from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It'll stop us spinning round as well; that might be why we've got a bulge round our middles, like the Earth.

Except if the Earth stops spinning it'll all go to our heads. Or something like that, according to this?
Where the oceans go if the earth's spin is reduced or stops.
http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0610/nospin.html
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