The calendar
The Igorot has no mechanical record of time or events, save as he sometimes cuts notches in a stick to mark the flight of days. He is apt, however, in memorizing the names of ancestors, holding them for half a dozen generations, but he keeps no record of age, and has no adequate conception of such a period as twenty years. He has no conception of a cycle of time greater than one year, and, in fact, it is the rare man who thinks in terms of a year. When one does he speaks of the past year as tĭn-mo-wĭn′, or i-san′ pa-na′-ma.
Prominent Igorot have insisted that a year has only eight moons, and other equally sane and respected men say it has one hundred. But among the old men, who are the wisdom of the people, there are those who know and say it has thirteen moons.
They have noted and named eight phases of the moon, namely: The one-quarter waxing moon, called “fĭs-ka′-na;” the two-quarters waxing moon, “ma-no′-wa,” or “ma-lang′-ad;” the three-quarters waxing moon, “kat-no-wa′-na” or “nap-no′;” the full moon, “fĭt-fi-tay′-ĕg;” the three-quarters waning moon, “ka-tol-pa-ka′-na” or “ma-tĭl-pa′-kan;” the two-quarters waning moon, “ki-sul-fi-ka′-na;” the one-quarter waning moon, “sĭg-na′-a-na” or “ka-fa-ni-ka′-na;” and the period following the last, when there is but a faint rim of light, is called “li′-mĕng” or “ma-a-mas′.”
Figure 9.
Recognized phases of the moon.
Fĭs-ka′-na. Ma-no′-wa. Kat-no-wa′-na. Fĭt-fi-tay′-ĕg. Ka-tol-pa-ka′-na. Ki-sul-fi-ka′-na. Sĭg-na′-a-na. Li′-mĕng.
However, the Igorot do seldom count time by the phases of the moon, and the only solar period of time they know is that of the day. Their word for day is the same as for sun, a-qu′. They indicate the time of day by pointing to the sky, indicating the position the sun occupied when a particular event occurred.