Africa offers good examples of the fluctuation and further sub-division of the seasons. The Wagogo of East Africa divide the year into the dry season, about May to October, and the rainy season, November to April. In the latter they further distinguish the little rainy season, songola, November and December, and the greater one, itika, about February and March[286]. In the neighbourhood of Mombasa the great rains begin in April and last approximately for a month, mwaka or masika: mchoo is a week in August, and vuli a fortnight in November, with showers. Beyond the seasons the natives have little idea of the lapse of time[287]. The Wa-Sania of British East Africa have three periods of four months each, gunu, adolaia, and huggaia, but no explanation whatever of these names is given[288]. The Masai divide the rainy season into three periods, and also have four seasons of three months each:—(1) ol dumeril, the time of the lesser rains, preceding that of the great rains. The latter fall in (2) en gokwa, named after the Pleiades, which at that time rise low on the western horizon (sic!). Then follows (3) ol airodjerod, the season of the gentle after-rains, and then (4) ol ameii, the time of hunger and drought[289]. Hollis begins the list with the months of the showers, and calls the season of the great rains l’apaitin le-’l-lengon, ‘the months of plenty’, stating that the latter season, in which the setting of the Pleiades takes place in the evening, is called from these loo-’n-gokwa[290]. Among the Ewe tribes the year has three periods:—adame, March to June; keleme, July to October; pepi, November to February. In the first two much rain falls, so that work in the fields is greatly hindered. Inland the year begins in March with the yam-sowing, and ends in February. The three principal seasons include four months each. Inland keleme also includes another period, masa, September and October, the second maize-sowing. Hence the name ‘masa-corn’. Pepi is the harmattan time, in which fall yam-harvesting, grass-drying, and hunting[291]. The Yoruba divide the year into the dry season, the season of the harmattan wind, and the rainy season, the last-named being further divided into the time of the first rains and that of the last rains or ‘little rainy season’[292]. In Loango a dry and a rainy season of about 6 months each are distinguished. In many districts there is also a third season, tschimuna, the time of the ripening of favourite fruits etc., and the hot seasons are then often simply called bimuna[293].
Where two rainy seasons separated by dry seasons occur, a fuller division of the year presents itself. The Babwende have five seasons:—ntombo, from the first rains at the end of September or beginning of October to the ceasing of the great rains at the end of January; kianza, the lesser dry season, to the beginning of the great rains in February; ndolo, the latter part of the rainy season up to sivu, the dry season, which begins in June; and mbangala, in August and September, when the grass withers and is burnt up[294]. The Wadschagga count:—the great rainy season, 4 months; the time of dew, 2 months; the season of heat, about 2 months; the so-called lesser rainy season, 1–2 months; the great heat, about 3 months[295]. The seasons of the Banyankole are determined by the rains. The longer period is termed kyanda and usually has six months: the lesser, akanda, has four, and there are two months called itumba. During the six months very little rain falls, then come a few days of rain followed by four months of dry weather, and after that two other months of rain[296]. A very striking example of the crossing and overlapping of the seasons is afforded by the Bakongo. They have sivu, the cold season, at the beginning of the dry season which commences about May 15; mbangala, the dry season with little or no dew, July to the middle of October, including also mpiaza, the grass-burning season, second half of July, August, and September; masanza, early light rains, latter part of October, November, and December; nkianza, short dry season, most of January and the early part of February; kundi, nsafu, fruit season, end of February to May, including kintombo, heavy rains, March, April, and nkiela, the time when the rains cease, from the beginning to the middle of May[297].
In the inland districts of Madagascar, in the neighbourhood of Antananarivo, there are properly only two seasons, a hot rainy period from the beginning of November to the end of April, and a cold dry period during the other months. However four seasons are distinguished:—lohataona, ‘head of the year’, September and October, when the rice is planted and a few showers fall; fahavaratra, ‘the thunder-time’, from the early part of November to the end of February or into March; fararano, ‘the last rains’, from the beginning of March to the end of April; and ririnina, ‘time of bareness’, when the grass becomes dry, June to August. Rice is planted twice, first before the end of October and again in November or December; the first crop is ripe in January or early in February, the second about April; the two crops however are not clearly distinguished and together last about four months[298]. One name for winter is maintang, ‘the earth is dry’[299].
The Hottentots seem to keep in view the vegetation rather than the climate. Their seasons are four in number. First, early spring. When with increasing warmth, independently of the rain-fall, trees and bushes break into leaf, and in good years winter or early spring rains have revived the grass, spring or blossoming-time has come; it begins in August and ends in October. The following season, which in the upland Damara dialect is called ‘the sun-time’, embraces the first half of the hot period in which, when the year is good, the so-called lesser rains fall. If these are wanting, or, as is usually the case, are scanty, the land is for the most part desolate, without grass or herbage. This time of drought is described by the same word as the drought itself: it prevails from October to December inclusive. The season upon the productiveness of which the welfare of the Hottentots in the main depends may be called the pasture-season: it includes the period of the greater rains and the time immediately after this, when the fodder has not yet lost its freshness. It fills, loosely speaking, the period January-April, and constitutes summer and early autumn. Winter, or the cold season, May to August, embraces two-thirds of autumn and the first half of winter[300]. The Herero also have four seasons:—spring (from September onwards), summer, autumn or the rainy season, and winter[301].
In Burmah there are three seasons, though certainly they are regulated by the months: the cold season, the hot season, and the rainy season[302]. The Polynesians usually have two long seasons, but three are not unheard of. A native of the island of Molokai, in the Sandwich group, states that there the year was divided into three seasons:—maka-lii, kau, and hoo-ilo. Maka-lii was so called because the sun was then less visible, being obscured by clouds, and the days were shortened. Kau was so termed because tapa could then safely be spread out to dry. Hoo-ilo meant ‘changeable’[303]. The two main seasons are called kau and hoo-ilo. It is to be observed however that in a notice from Hawaii they are called hoo-ilo and maka-lii[304]. This shews that the number is not fixed. On the Society Islands besides the two seasons regulated by the Pleiades there were also three seasons: (1) tetau, autumn or season of plenty, the harvest of bread-fruit, commencing with December and continuing until faahu, which corresponded to January and a part of February, the time of the most frequent rains, comprising three months; (2) te tau miti rahi, the season of high sea, November to January; (3) te tau poai, the longest season, winter, the season of drought and scarcity of food, which usually extended from July to October[305]. It will however be seen that these seasons do not fill up the year, and that the second partly covers the first. Their names are taken from different phenomena of Nature. The New Zealanders distinguish four seasons:—spring, te aro aro, mahaua, te toru, ‘the time of growth’, both toru and aro aro signify ‘the shooting or springing forth of plants’, mahaua is the season of warmth; summer, raumati, waru, rehua,—raumati means ‘dead leaves’, and the summer is so called because all the trees with one exception are evergreen and shed their leaves in summer; autumn, ngahura matiti; winter, hotoke, puanga, the season when the earth is damp and gives forth her worms, which were formerly highly prized as food[306]. The seasons are regulated by the stars, puanga is the great winter star, rehu the great summer star.
The names of the greater seasons are therefore taken for the most part from the varying phases of the climate, but very often refer also to the phenomena of natural life accompanying these. The climatic phases, on account of their fluctuating duration and their limited number, afford no means of distinguishing and naming a greater number of smaller seasons: the phases of plant and animal life may be used as an equivalent and are much better adapted to this purpose, especially when to them are added the regular occupations of agriculture. In the above examples terms referring to natural life have already been found mingled with those borrowed from the climate. Where the seasons are numerous this is always the case: direct references to the climate may even be entirely lacking. These facts shew moreover that between the largest and smallest seasons there exists no difference in the main: they pass into one another without interruption through a series of intermediate stages. Such smaller seasons may be run together into the circle of the year; but this seldom occurs, since the ordinary reckoning according to lunar months has absorbed the smaller seasons, which, on account of their varying and indeterminate length, are inconvenient for reckoning, whereas the regular and definite length of the months makes them easy to reckon. It is however sometimes the case.
The Indians in general have lunar months named from natural occurrences, but not so the Luiseño of Southern California. According to P. S. Sparkman in his unpublished Dictionary of their language the Luiseño year was divided into 8 periods, each of which was again divided into two parts, distinguished as ‘large’ and ‘small’ or ‘lean’. These divisions did not represent periods of time but merely indicated when certain fruits and seeds ripened, grass began to grow, and trees came into leaf in the valley or on the mountain. The native names are given but are unfortunately not translated. Du Bois, to whom we are indebted for this information, names the parts ‘months’ (in inverted commas), and adds that the names are all taken from the physical features of different seasons. Tausunmal, about August, means that everything is brown and sear. Tovukmal refers to the little streams of water washing the fallen leaves. Tasmoimal means that the rain has come and grass is sprouting. In nemoimal the deer grow fat. The ‘months’ are marked by the rising of certain stars. The seasons have here developed into a regular calendrical cycle[307].
In reality this cycle is in no way distinguished from the succession of seasons given above: it has only been improved and regulated. This happens more particularly under the influence of agriculture; one can speak of an agricultural year the seasons of which are determined and named in accordance with agriculture. Of the Fanti of the Gold Coast it is said that they divide the year, according to the changes of the climate, into nine parts with distinct names, beginning with the harmattan wind in January and ending with the small tornadoes in December[308]. The periods however are related to agriculture, as appears from a detailed description for the countries around the Niger. The end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry (about November) forms a kind of season by itself, and is called odun (year). The farmers go on weeding their farms to give the crops of their second harvest a chance. The dry season is divided into two sections of two months each. During the day it is very hot. The cold wind blowing from the east is called harmattan by Europeans, oye by the natives. The second crops of corn, beans, and guinea-corn are now gathered. The land is cleared for the next season’s crops, and the bush already felled is burnt. This is also the fishing season. The dry season (erun) continues for the next two months, but during the latter part of the second month the rumbling of thunder is heard and small rains fall. The preparation of the ground is continued and yam-planting begins. The rainy season may be divided into two parts separated by a little dry season: the first section consists of five lunar months of rain, the latter of two lunar months, one nearly dry month intervening. The first two months of this section of the rains are called asheroh ojo: it is the tornado season. At the beginning of this season ground-nuts and the first crop of corn are planted. In the next two months the rain-fall reaches its maximum. Towards the end of the second month it becomes possible to eat new corn. The main crop however is left standing in the fields until it becomes quite dry, which happens when the next season, the little dry season, sets in. This sub-division of the rainy season is called ago, probably because the corn has grown tall during the last month. The season called awori consists of one month of rain and the little dry season. The first crop of yams, the corn, the ground-nuts, and the gourds are gathered in. Before long the rains have ceased, the seed for the second crop of corn is sown. The two following months are called the arokuro season, and like the first two months of the rains they are tornado months. Bushes are felled in order to prepare the land for next year’s sowing, and weeding is continued[309]. The months mentioned are lunar months. An interesting feature is that the names of the seasons do not altogether coincide with the natural divisions of the climate, as the following comparison clearly shews:—odun, end of rains, beginning of dry season; erun, dry season I, II, 4 months; asheroh ojo, season of rains (tornadoes), 2 months; ago, rainy season, maximum, 2 months; awori, 1 month rain and little dry season; arokuro, season of rains (tornadoes), 2 months. The deviations are brought about, as the description shews, by the business of agriculture.
The Shilluk know the months but also divide the year into the following nine seasons:—yey jeria, about September, harvest of red dura; anwoch, about October, end of the harvest, people are waiting for white dura to ripen; agwero, about November-December, harvest of white dura begins; wudo, December to January, harvest of white dura continues; leu, January-February, the hot season, dodin, about March, in these two there is no work in the fields; dokot, about April, ‘mouth of rain’, beginning of the rains; shwer, about May-July, time for planting red dura; doria, about July-September, beginning of harvest[310]. A similar but more indefinite mode of reckoning seems to exist among the Bakairi of S. America, of whom it is said that they reckon by dry and rainy seasons, and also distinguish ‘months’ not by the moon but quite vaguely by the rain and the heat and the phases of the maize-culture[311]. Their months are given as follows:—‘hardest rain’, about January; ‘less rain’, February; ‘rain ceases’, March; ‘it (the weather) becomes good’, April; ‘wood-cutting’, May and June; July, nameless; ‘end-of-the-day-time’, August; ‘the rain is coming’, September and October; ‘the maize ripens’, November; December, nameless[312].