Primitive Time-reckoning / A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoples

by Martin P. Nilsson

Just as the Pleiades play the most important part in the determination of time from the phases of Nature, so it is also in the naming of the months. The Konyag have a month named from this constellation, which is followed by one named after Orion[888]. Of the Diegueño of S. California it is stated that they divided the year into six months and observed the morning rising of five chief stars. The names of months are given, but unfortunately there is no information as to the sense[889]. The Hottentots and the Herero both have a Pleiades month[890]. On the islands of the Pacific Ocean the practice is carried so far that in some cases every month is described by the rising of a constellation, as is done by the Maoris[891], or even named from stars, as among the inhabitants of Mortlock’s Island[892] and, for most of the months, by tribes of the Torres Straits[893].

This, however, is an exception. Where only one month is named from the rising of a star or brought into connexion with it—in this case the stars in question are usually the Pleiades—the latter furnishes the means of correcting the reckoning of the months, and the intercalary month is consequently introduced, as need arises, before the month in question. The Pleiades month therefore of itself becomes the starting-point of the reckoning of the months, i. e. becomes the beginning of the year. Immediately after the discovery of America it was already reported of certain tribes on the Mexican coast that they began the year at the setting of the Pleiades and divided it into moon-months[894]. In Loango the months are counted from new moons, but Sirius, the rainy star, offers a means of correcting the reckoning sidereally. With the first new moon which sees Sirius rising in the east their new cycle of twelve months begins, and this must run as well as it can until the new year. When the cycle of months and the year do not fit, which happens about every three years, a thirteenth month must be inserted. This is the evil time, when the wandering spirits are at their worst[895]. The Caffres have twelve moon-months with the usual descriptive names: on this account uncertainty often arises as to which month it really is. The confusion is always rectified by the morning rising of the Pleiades, and the reckoning goes on smoothly for a time, until the months once more get out of place and it becomes necessary to refer again to the stars in order to correct them[896]. In Bali the Pleiades and Orion are observed for the purpose of correcting the calendar of moons by intercalation: thus the month kartika is doubled, or the month asada is prolonged until the Pleiades appear at sunset. Moreover certain natural phenomena are observed[897]. In New Zealand, where all months were described by stars, the year began with the new moon following on the rising of the winter star puanga (Rigel)[898]; the thirteenth month often passed unobserved[899], i. e. served as an intercalary month. Elsewhere we are told that the displacement of the moon-months in relation to the year was rectified through the observation of the rising of the Pleiades and of Orion, and that the most accurate way of calculating the beginning of the year was to observe the first new moon after the morning rising of Rigel[900]. The Papuans limit the year by the constellation of the Serpent, manggouanija; when it appears again in the north, it is a sign that the new year is beginning[901]. The people of Nauru, west of the Gilbert Islands, count by moon-months. The time that elapses until the Great Bear returns to the same spot is reckoned as a year[902]. The last two reports are so condensed that it is impossible to see whether the stars serve for the rectifying of the calendar of moons found among these peoples, or only for the fixing of the beginning of the year, which, as will be shewn below, may be independent of the reckoning of months.

About the regulation of the Hawaiian calendar the authorities are not unanimous. Dibble says (p. 108) that the month welehu completed the year, and the new year began with the following month, makalii. The year varied between 12 and 13 months. Each month had 30 days; however he adds that in practice the number of days varied between 30 and 29. This is the phenomenon familiar in other places, e. g. in Greece, among the Bataks, etc., in which a round number of 30 days is given to the moon-month, the real length of this being a little more than 29½ days. Fornander (I, 119 ff.) states that this variation, though not common, did occur, but asserts that the year of 360 days was rectified by the intercalation of 5 days at the end of the month welehu: these were tabu days, dedicated to the festival of the god Lono. Similarly an old woman of Maui stated that eight months had 30 days and four 31, and that these additional days were called na mahoe, ‘the twins’[903]. This statement cannot be correct, since the month was strictly lunar and must have been wholly disarranged by these intercalary days, as is pointed out by the historian of the Sandwich Islands, W. D. Alexander[904]. This writer also remarks that it is a well-established fact that the ancient Hawaiians intercalated a month about every third year, but that the rule governing the intercalation is unknown. Certainly there was no such rule, but the intercalation was empirically treated, and regulated by the appearance of the Pleiades. Such contradictory statements as the above are due to the influence of the European calendar, owing to which the native calendar has early fallen into disuse. Fornander has probably mistaken a feast for intercalary days.

The treatment of the calendar among the Bataks of Sumatra is of great interest. The calendar indeed originates in India: the days of the months shew the familiar names of planets in corrupted Sanskrit forms, four times repeated and distinguished by various additions. Only the 28th and 29th or the 29th and 30th days, as the case may be, have names of another kind, so as to equalise the number of the days of the moon-month. The week is therefore not shifting but is immovably fitted into the month. The months are regulated by Scorpio, the largest star of which is Antares. The year begins with the new moon at the morning setting of Orion and the contemporary morning rising of Scorpio in May. The full moon fourteen days later then stands in the constellation Scorpio. In the first half of the year the full moon goes farther from Scorpio every month, and in the second half gets nearer and nearer to it. In the Batak calendar, which has 12, sometimes 13, × 30 squares, the sign of Scorpio is registered at the proper day, and the month is decided by it. As a means of control the soothsayer uses a buffalo rib with 12 × 30 holes (four times repeated), and every day he draws a string through one hole in order to keep account of the days. It is clear that the calendar can give no certain help in the establishing of the month, and that the means of control must be directly misleading, since the moon-months vary between 29 and 30 days. For this reason the soothsayer is often uncertain in his reckoning of the months, and refers to the natural phases in order to correct it[905]. Hence in his selection of days he looks not only to the current month, but also to the preceding. Our authority says that the surplus month is no intercalary month in the European sense, although it is likely that to it originally fell the task of equalising the lunar and the solar years. This is indeed the only correct explanation. When, presumably in the twelfth month, a following month is involved in the decision, the thirteenth is also included so that an intercalation takes place. If the thirteenth month is not available, the first is taken, we are told. But an intercalation is necessary all the same: the observation of the natural phases and of the morning rising of Orion serves for the correction. And this can happen just because the people are uncertain in the reckoning, and act according to circumstances. The Batak calendar is a product of decay, and is used exclusively for divination, not as a genuine calendar[906]; but it is of great interest to observe how the soothsayers, since they do not possess the knowledge necessary for a proper management of the calendar, fall back upon primitive methods. It is significant that the indispensable thirteenth month has often been lost: the people do not even understand the difference between the months and the year, and yet they cannot avoid the necessity of the intercalation.

There are two historically important cases of this empirically regulated intercalation of months, which must be dealt with in detail, since they are much debated. The dispute has arisen from a failure to recognise the empirical intercalation and its workings. The one case is that of the old Arabian calendar before Mohammed, the other that of the Babylonian calendar.

The old Arabian names of months depend in great measure, as has been shewn already[907], upon the seasons. Originally therefore the months must have been connected with the solar year, and must have been approximately fixed in their position by the sufficiently familiar empirical method. The same thing is shewn by the naming of the last months from the pilgrimage to Mecca. In pre-Mohammedan times the pilgrimages were at the same time business journeys; trade and cult were, as so often, united, and commercial intercourse was first made really possible when by religious sanction a time of peace was established during which journeys to and fro could be taken in safety. The first month of the peace of God is dhu-l-qa’da, and dhu-l-hijja is the month of the gathering in Mecca: the following month, safar I, was also included in the time of peace, and was therefore called muharram. During all three months there were fairs: in the neighbourhood of Mecca there was a whole succession of them, following upon each other in dhu-l-qa’da and dhu-l-hijja; in safar there was a corn-market in Yemen[908]. The gay life of the great fair of Mecca is described in detail in old Arabic sources; it seems to have drawn the people almost more than the religious ceremonies, and first gave Mecca its real importance. An annual fair is however dependent upon the seasons, both on account of the journeys and for the products bought and sold. Sprenger has already remarked that the winter months are quite unsuitable for merchants’ journeys to Syria, and that in the late summer it was not to be expected that corn which had been cut at the beginning of March should be taken in to the markets[909]. Because of the markets that were held in them, the months must also have had a fixed position in the solar year. This importance of Mecca explains why the Meccan months became so wide-spread. The two names dhu-l-qa’da and dhu-l-hijja are formed with dhu, differently from the others, and were coined at Mecca. This leads to the conclusion that these names were innovations occasioned by the business intercourse of that city.

For the purpose of determining the time of the peace of God and of the gathering in Mecca unity must prevail as to the position of the months, and for this the above-mentioned occasional correction of the position is quite inadequate. Mohammed prescribed the strictly lunar year: by this means the time of every month was definitely fixed, but in about 33 years the months would pass through the circle of a whole solar year. The question is whether before Mohammed an ordered intercalation, which he abolished, or the lunar year existed. For although it lies in the nature of things that the market should originally be connected with a definite time of the year, it cannot of course be denied that later, when the fairs had already attained this predominating position, the date could be fixed by reference to the purely lunar year. It is certain that in the years just before the prescription of the lunar year by Mohammed the months were inverted in relation to the year, so that the spring months fell in autumn and the autumn months came in the spring[910].

The passage in the Koran 9, 36 ff. is often adduced as evidence that Mohammed abolished the intercalation:—“Truly the number of the months with God is twelve months in the book of God, on the day when He created the heavens and the earth. Of these four (i. e. rajab, dhu-l-qa’da, dhu-l-hijja, muharram) are holy. This is the right religion. Be not unjust therein towards yourselves, but fight against the heathen without distinction, since they make no distinction in fighting against you, and know that God is on the side of the faithful. The nasî is in truth an addition to unbelief (or, in unbelief), in which the unbelievers go astray. They allow it one year, and one year they explain it as unlawful, in order to equalise (bring into agreement) the number of that (i. e. the months) which God has commanded to keep holy. But they declare lawful what God has forbidden.” It is claimed that the emphasis laid upon the fact that there are twelve months is directed against the intercalation, but this is no proof. The sense depends entirely upon what is implied by nasî. Etymologically the word is derived from nasaa, ‘to push aside, away’.

On this point there has been from the earliest days of Arabic literature a dispute which has been still further complicated by modern hypotheses[911]. According to one view nasî is the intercalation of a month, which served to bring the months into agreement with the solar year[912]. Some authors have even attempted to establish an intercalary cycle, and it has been asserted that the intercalation was borrowed from the Jews. This opinion may be left out of account, since the cycles differ among themselves and are therefore invented, while the intercalation was governed by a hereditary nasî-controller from the tribe of Kinâna, who was called the qalammas, i. e. ‘Sea of Wisdom’. If the intercalation is controlled by a central authority, as e. g. in Babylonia, an intercalary cycle is unnecessary: the central authority supplies its place. According to the other view the nasî consists in the transferring of the holy character of one month to another, e. g. the declaring of muharram as free and the pronouncing of safar as holy instead of it. This view is based on the supposition that the Arabs found a time of peace lasting for three successive months burdensome, and in order to be able to make predatory excursions in a holy month, and yet keep the number of holy months unchanged, they made another month holy instead. The treatment e. g. of the karneios by the Argives and of the daisios by Alexander the Great[913] was very similar. Therefore, it is maintained, before Mohammed the year was a purely lunar one, and Mohammed only forbade the disarrangement of the holy period. These authorities also ascribe the right of changing the holy month to the qalammas, who at the end of the feast of pilgrims in dhu-l-hijja rose and in an address to the assembly arranged the re-distribution. A third view, according to which the feast of pilgrims was held eleven days later every year, until after a cycle of 33 years it came back again to the same month, is certainly incorrect, since the feast was connected with the phases of the moon. The theory is extracted from the comparison between the lunar and the solar years[914].