The Encyclopedia is huge, devoting hundreds of pages to world calendars. Several features caught my interest. It is uncommon to find names for the gamut of nights of the moon, ranging from 28 perhaps to 30. He lists some for Ponape. This three page bit deserves study. If I may be forgiven, I will incorporate a few bits out of context. ERRORS IN TRANSLITERATION ARE MY OWN.
(This) may imply that the Bali-Javanese year originally had onlyI will quote this much longer fragment, without much correction:
10 months (cf. Ginzel, op. cit. p. 425) — a curious phenomenon
which is recorded for the Gilbert Islands by Hale (il.S. Explor-
ing Expedition, Ethnography and Philology, Philadelphia,
1S46, p. 105 f.), and is seen also among the Maori and possibly
in the Caroline Islands, although, as Gerland (Anthrop. der
Natürvölker, Leipzig, 1860-77, vi. 72 1.) well urges, all these
cases of alleged ten-month years may be based on error. At the
same time, one involuntarily thinks of the Roman tradition that
previous to Numa, who added Jan. and Feb., the year con-
sisted of only ten months (of. Plutarch, Vita Numce, xvlii. £.,
and see below, p. 134a).
In Melanesia the system of reckoning time is most primitive. The standard of measure is, of course, the moon, but there is no indigenous concept of the year; tau or niulu, commonly used for 'year,' properly connoting only 'season' (as the 'tau of the yam,' the banana having no tau, since it is in fruit throughout the year).
'It is impossible to fit the native succession of moons into a solar year; months have their names from what is done and what happens when the moon appears and while it lasts; the same moon has different names' (Codrington, ilelanesians, Oxford, 1891, p. 349). For example, the moons of the year on Mota, of the Banks Islands group, may be given as follows : Magoto garo ('fresh grass,' corresponding to April), Magoto rango ('withered grass'), Nago rara ('face of winter,' the rara, or
Erythrina, flowering in the cold season), Tur rara ('fullness of winter'), Kere rara ('end of winter'), Un rig or Un gogona ('little or bitter palolo,' a few of these annelids appearing at this full moon), Un lava ('great palolo,' the annelid appearing on the reef in immense numbers on one night at full moon, this serving in part as the beginning of a new year, especially as the yam is harvested during this moon), Un werei ('rump of the palolo'), Vule wotgoro ('moon of shooting up'
[of the reeds into flower]), Vusiaru (when the wind beats the casuarina trees on the cliffs), Tetemavuru (when the hard winds detach fragments from the seeded reeds), and Lamasag noronoro ('rattling of dry reeds'),
In the Caroline Islands a phenomenon is found, which is, in a sense, characteristic of the Pacific calendar, and which outside this region occurs only in the Armenian and Persian systems (see above, pp. 70, 128) — the naming of the days of each month or moon. In Ponape, for example, the names of the 27 days of the moon are as follows (Christian, Caroline Islands, London, 1899, p. 387 f . ) : Ir, Lel- eti, Chanok, Chanok-en-komóni, Chanok-en-komána, Epenok-omur, Epenok-omoa, Chaii-pot-mur,
Chau-pot-moa, Arichau, Chutak-ran, Eü, Aralok, At, Arre, Echil, Apang, Alim, Aon, Eich, Aval, Malatuatu, Takai-en-pai, Aro-puki, Olo-pua, Olomal, and Mat (similar lists for Lamotrek, the Mortlock Islands, Yap, and Uleai are given by Christian, op. cit. pp. 392-395). In Ponape, moreover, as elsewhere in the Carolines, the month is divided into 3 parts: Rot ('darkness,' 13 days), Mach ('new moon,' 9 days), and Pul ('waning moon,' 5 days). The number of months in the Caroline year is 12 (in
Lamotrek, for example, Sarabol, Aramaus, Tumur, Mai-rik, Mai-lap, Seuta, Lahk, Ku, Ul, Alliel, Man, and Ich); and Freycinet's record of only 10 (Voyage autour du monde, Paris, 1827-29, ii. 105) — Tungur, Mol, Mahelap, Sota, La, Kuhu, Halimatu, Margar, Hiolikol, and Mal — was probably based, as he himself suspected, on erroneous information, especially as each maram ('moon,' 'month') possessed but 30 days. In the Ladrones the same explorer (op. cit. p. 380) found 13 lunar months (pulan)
in the year (sakkan) : Tumeguini, Maine, Umotaraf, Lumuhu, Magmamao, Mananaf, Semo, Tenhos, Lumamlam, Fagualu, Sumongsugn, Umadjanggan, and Umagahaf; and in the same group Chamisso ('Bemerkungen auf einer Entdeckungsreise,' Gesammelte Werke, Cotta ed. iv. 285) found time reckoned by days and moons, but in the Carolines by nights and moons.
Throughout Polynesia time was reckoned by the moon, from 28 to 30 nights forming the month, of which there were, as occasion required, 12 or 13 in the year. This year (or, rather, annual season, for the concept 'year' was scarcely known in its strict sense in Polynesia) began at various periods corresponding to our May, June, March, late December, etc., while the names of the months varied from island to island, and even within the same island (cf. Ellis, Polynesian Researches^, London,
1832-36, i. 86-89; for further details, with abundant references to older literature, see Gerland, op. cit. p. 71ff.).
In Tahiti, where the year (táoo) began about March, the months (marama, malama) bore, accord- ing to Forster (Observations made during a Voyage around the World, London, 1778, p. 504f.), the following names (cf. the slightly divergent list in Hale, op. cit. p. 169 f., where lists for Samoa and Hawaii are also recorded): O-porore-o-moòa, 0-porore-o-moòree, Moorehà, Oohee-eìya, Hooree-àma, Tàuwa, Hooree-erre-èrre, 0-te-àree, 0-te-taì, Warehoo, Woeahou, Pipìrree, and A-oo-noonoo. Each month had 29 days, all with individual names, special names also being borne by each of the six divisions of the day and the six of the night. In Lakemba, in the Fiji group, the 11 months recorded by Hale (op. cit. p. 6)— Sese-ni-ngasáu-lailai ('little reed-flower,' corresponding to Feb.), Sese-ni-ngasáu-levu ('great reed-flower'), Vulai-mbotambota ('moon of scattering' [the fallen leaves]), Vulai-kelikeli ('moon of digging'), Kawakatangāre, Kawawakā-lailai, Kawawakā-levu (these three referring to the growth of the yam), Mbalolo-lailai ('little palolo' [for the allusion, cf. preceding col.]), Mbalolo-levu ('great palolo'), Nunga-lailai ('little nunga' [a sort of fish]), and Nunga-levu ('great nunga') — recall by their grouping the seasonal nomenclature of the oldest Indian months — Sukra ('bright'), Suci ('burning'); Nabhas ('cloud'), Nabhasya, ('cloudy'); Tapas ('warmth'), Tap-asya ('warm'); etc. (Ginzel, op. cit. p. 316). In Rotuma Island, belonging to Fiji, we find a 'monsoon year' of 6 moons, the months being repeated semi-annually on account of the regular blowing of westerly and easterly winds: Oipapa (March, September), Taftáfi, Hāua, Kasépi, Fāson-hāu, and Aθapuána (Hale, op. cit. p. 169).
With this may perhaps be compared the Nicobarese custom of reckoning by the south-west monsoon (sho-hong, May-Oct.) and the north-east monsoon (fūl, Nov.-April), two shom-en-yuh, or monsoon half years, making approximately a solar year. At the same time, the kāhēs (new moons) are named consecutively throughout the year, not repeated semi-annually as in Rotuma (see, further, Ginzel, op. cit. p. 431 f.). In the Society Islands the year (matahiti) was similarly divided into half-years according
to the position of the Pleiades: Matarii i nia ('Pleiades above' [the horizon]), and Matarii i raro ('Pleiades below' [the horizon]). Here again the nights of each lunar month, which were, as necessity required, 12 or 13 in number, and had 30 days each, were named individually, while various seasons (as Tetau, 'autumn'; Te-tau-miti-rati, 'time of high sea'; and Te-tau-poai, 'season of drought and scarcity') were also recognized. Ellis (loc. cit. ) further states that, while the
Society Islanders were unacquainted with hours or weeks, they 'marked the progress of the day with sufficient accuracy, by noticing the position of the sun in the firmament, the appearance of the atmosphere, and the ebbing and flowing of the tide.' In like fashion the Hawaiians began their year when the Pleiades rise at sunset. During five months, beginning with Kaelo (Jan.), war might be waged, but peace was enjoined during the remainder of the year. Similarly in Tahiti, according to Wilkes
(Narrative of U.S. Exploring Expedition, Philadelphia, 1850, iv. 42 f.), the first three months were for war; during the fourth the opelu was tabu, and in the fifth it was caught; the two moons following were for taxing; the eighth was devoted to prayers, games, and merriment; the ninth contained the annual feast for the payment of taxes; in the tenth the idols were carried about, and taxes were demanded; the eleventh was for the offerings to the dead and the catching of the boneta; and
the twelfth for the fishing of the same fish. Elsewhere each month had analogous divisions. Thus, in Hawaii,
'during each month there were four tabu periods of two nights and one day each, dedicated severally to each of the four great gods. All their religious rites, as well as their fishing, planting, etc., were regulated by the moon' (Alexander, Brief Hist, of the Hawaiian People, New York, 1891, p. 49 f.).
In New Zealand the year also began with the rising of the Pleiades. According to Maori tradition, this year (tau, lit. 'season') originally contained only ten months, until Whare-patari, a magician, taught the people better (cf. the curiously parallel tradition of Numa, above, p. 132^a), after which they had the customary Polynesian number of 12 or 13: Te-tahi (June), Te-rua, Te-toru, Te-wha, Te-rima, Te-ono, Te-whitu, Te-waru, Te-iwa, Te-ngahuru, Te-ngahuru-tahi, Te-ngahuru-rua, and
Te-ngahuru-tahi-aralua (Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders ^2, London, 1856, pp. 219-222). These months had the following names for their days (Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Diet., Wellington, 1891, p. 666, where similar lists are given for Hawaii, Tahiti, Rarotonga, and the Marquesas): Whiro (from whiri, 'twist,' 'plait,' because on this first night the moon looks like a twisted thread), Tirea (cf. tirau, 'peg,' 'stick'), Hoata ('long spear'). One,
Okou (cf. oka, 'wooden bowl or other open vessel' [?]), Tamatea-kai-ariki, Tamatea-ananga, Tamatea-aio, Tamatea-whakapau, Huna, Ari-roa, Mawharu, Maurea, Atua-whakahaehae, Turu, Rakau-nui, Rakau-matohi, Takirau, Oika, Korekore, Korekore-turua, Korekore-piri-ki-Tangaroa, Tangaroa-a-mua, Tangaroa-a-roto, Tangaroa-a-kiokio, O-Tane (sacred to Tane), O-Rongo-nui (sacred to Rongo), Mauri, 0-Mutu, and Mutuwhenua (cf. mutu, 'brought to an end').
In Australia, as one would expect, the lowest degree of calendrical development in the Pacific region is found. Here, in the words of Spencer-Gillen, p. 25 f.,
'time is counted by "sleeps" or "moons," or phases of the moon, for which they have definite terms : longer periods they reckon by means of seasons, having names for summer and winter. They have further definite words expressing particular times, such as morning before sunrise (ingwunthagwuntha), ... day after tomorrow (ingwunthairpina), ... in a long time (ingwuntha arbarmaninga).'
The citation of additional data from the remainder of the Pacific world would scarcely add new principles to the Polynesian calendar, which may DC described, from the evidence already presented, as a system of lunar months (or 'moons'), 12 or 13 to what we should call a year (a concept developed only imperfectly, if at all, by the peoples under consideration), usually named according to the natural phenomena, the occupations, or the religious festivals connected with them, and — in many places subdivided into two or three periods of unequal length — having from 28 to 30 days, only roughly divided into parts (aiiy thing corresponding to the hour being quite unknown), but normally named each with a special designation — the latter being, in fact, the most striking superficial characteristic of this entire system of the reckoning of time.
LITERATURE. — Abundant references, in addition to those mentioned in the art., may be found in Waitz-Gerland, Anthropol. der Naturvolker, Leipzig, 1860-77, v. a, 125, b, 86, vi. 71-74, 613-615, 763 f.; Ginzel, Handbuch der mathemat. und techn. Chronologie, Leipzig, 1906, i. 414-432, 449.
In Melanesia the system of reckoning time is most primitive. The standard of measure is, of course, the moon, but there is no indigenous concept of the year; tau or niulu, commonly used for 'year,' properly connoting only 'season' (as the 'tau of the yam,' the banana having no tau, since it is in fruit throughout the year).
'It is impossible to fit the native succession of moons into a solar year; months have their names from what is done and what happens when the moon appears and while it lasts; the same moon has different names' (Codrington, ilelanesians, Oxford, 1891, p. 349). For example, the moons of the year on Mota, of the Banks Islands group, may be given as follows : Magoto garo ('fresh grass,' corresponding to April), Magoto rango ('withered grass'), Nago rara ('face of winter,' the rara, or
Erythrina, flowering in the cold season), Tur rara ('fullness of winter'), Kere rara ('end of winter'), Un rig or Un gogona ('little or bitter palolo,' a few of these annelids appearing at this full moon), Un lava ('great palolo,' the annelid appearing on the reef in immense numbers on one night at full moon, this serving in part as the beginning of a new year, especially as the yam is harvested during this moon), Un werei ('rump of the palolo'), Vule wotgoro ('moon of shooting up'
[of the reeds into flower]), Vusiaru (when the wind beats the casuarina trees on the cliffs), Tetemavuru (when the hard winds detach fragments from the seeded reeds), and Lamasag noronoro ('rattling of dry reeds'),
In the Caroline Islands a phenomenon is found, which is, in a sense, characteristic of the Pacific calendar, and which outside this region occurs only in the Armenian and Persian systems (see above, pp. 70, 128) — the naming of the days of each month or moon. In Ponape, for example, the names of the 27 days of the moon are as follows (Christian, Caroline Islands, London, 1899, p. 387 f . ) : Ir, Lel- eti, Chanok, Chanok-en-komóni, Chanok-en-komána, Epenok-omur, Epenok-omoa, Chaii-pot-mur,
Chau-pot-moa, Arichau, Chutak-ran, Eü, Aralok, At, Arre, Echil, Apang, Alim, Aon, Eich, Aval, Malatuatu, Takai-en-pai, Aro-puki, Olo-pua, Olomal, and Mat (similar lists for Lamotrek, the Mortlock Islands, Yap, and Uleai are given by Christian, op. cit. pp. 392-395). In Ponape, moreover, as elsewhere in the Carolines, the month is divided into 3 parts: Rot ('darkness,' 13 days), Mach ('new moon,' 9 days), and Pul ('waning moon,' 5 days). The number of months in the Caroline year is 12 (in
Lamotrek, for example, Sarabol, Aramaus, Tumur, Mai-rik, Mai-lap, Seuta, Lahk, Ku, Ul, Alliel, Man, and Ich); and Freycinet's record of only 10 (Voyage autour du monde, Paris, 1827-29, ii. 105) — Tungur, Mol, Mahelap, Sota, La, Kuhu, Halimatu, Margar, Hiolikol, and Mal — was probably based, as he himself suspected, on erroneous information, especially as each maram ('moon,' 'month') possessed but 30 days. In the Ladrones the same explorer (op. cit. p. 380) found 13 lunar months (pulan)
in the year (sakkan) : Tumeguini, Maine, Umotaraf, Lumuhu, Magmamao, Mananaf, Semo, Tenhos, Lumamlam, Fagualu, Sumongsugn, Umadjanggan, and Umagahaf; and in the same group Chamisso ('Bemerkungen auf einer Entdeckungsreise,' Gesammelte Werke, Cotta ed. iv. 285) found time reckoned by days and moons, but in the Carolines by nights and moons.
Throughout Polynesia time was reckoned by the moon, from 28 to 30 nights forming the month, of which there were, as occasion required, 12 or 13 in the year. This year (or, rather, annual season, for the concept 'year' was scarcely known in its strict sense in Polynesia) began at various periods corresponding to our May, June, March, late December, etc., while the names of the months varied from island to island, and even within the same island (cf. Ellis, Polynesian Researches^, London,
1832-36, i. 86-89; for further details, with abundant references to older literature, see Gerland, op. cit. p. 71ff.).
In Tahiti, where the year (táoo) began about March, the months (marama, malama) bore, accord- ing to Forster (Observations made during a Voyage around the World, London, 1778, p. 504f.), the following names (cf. the slightly divergent list in Hale, op. cit. p. 169 f., where lists for Samoa and Hawaii are also recorded): O-porore-o-moòa, 0-porore-o-moòree, Moorehà, Oohee-eìya, Hooree-àma, Tàuwa, Hooree-erre-èrre, 0-te-àree, 0-te-taì, Warehoo, Woeahou, Pipìrree, and A-oo-noonoo. Each month had 29 days, all with individual names, special names also being borne by each of the six divisions of the day and the six of the night. In Lakemba, in the Fiji group, the 11 months recorded by Hale (op. cit. p. 6)— Sese-ni-ngasáu-lailai ('little reed-flower,' corresponding to Feb.), Sese-ni-ngasáu-levu ('great reed-flower'), Vulai-mbotambota ('moon of scattering' [the fallen leaves]), Vulai-kelikeli ('moon of digging'), Kawakatangāre, Kawawakā-lailai, Kawawakā-levu (these three referring to the growth of the yam), Mbalolo-lailai ('little palolo' [for the allusion, cf. preceding col.]), Mbalolo-levu ('great palolo'), Nunga-lailai ('little nunga' [a sort of fish]), and Nunga-levu ('great nunga') — recall by their grouping the seasonal nomenclature of the oldest Indian months — Sukra ('bright'), Suci ('burning'); Nabhas ('cloud'), Nabhasya, ('cloudy'); Tapas ('warmth'), Tap-asya ('warm'); etc. (Ginzel, op. cit. p. 316). In Rotuma Island, belonging to Fiji, we find a 'monsoon year' of 6 moons, the months being repeated semi-annually on account of the regular blowing of westerly and easterly winds: Oipapa (March, September), Taftáfi, Hāua, Kasépi, Fāson-hāu, and Aθapuána (Hale, op. cit. p. 169).
With this may perhaps be compared the Nicobarese custom of reckoning by the south-west monsoon (sho-hong, May-Oct.) and the north-east monsoon (fūl, Nov.-April), two shom-en-yuh, or monsoon half years, making approximately a solar year. At the same time, the kāhēs (new moons) are named consecutively throughout the year, not repeated semi-annually as in Rotuma (see, further, Ginzel, op. cit. p. 431 f.). In the Society Islands the year (matahiti) was similarly divided into half-years according
to the position of the Pleiades: Matarii i nia ('Pleiades above' [the horizon]), and Matarii i raro ('Pleiades below' [the horizon]). Here again the nights of each lunar month, which were, as necessity required, 12 or 13 in number, and had 30 days each, were named individually, while various seasons (as Tetau, 'autumn'; Te-tau-miti-rati, 'time of high sea'; and Te-tau-poai, 'season of drought and scarcity') were also recognized. Ellis (loc. cit. ) further states that, while the
Society Islanders were unacquainted with hours or weeks, they 'marked the progress of the day with sufficient accuracy, by noticing the position of the sun in the firmament, the appearance of the atmosphere, and the ebbing and flowing of the tide.' In like fashion the Hawaiians began their year when the Pleiades rise at sunset. During five months, beginning with Kaelo (Jan.), war might be waged, but peace was enjoined during the remainder of the year. Similarly in Tahiti, according to Wilkes
(Narrative of U.S. Exploring Expedition, Philadelphia, 1850, iv. 42 f.), the first three months were for war; during the fourth the opelu was tabu, and in the fifth it was caught; the two moons following were for taxing; the eighth was devoted to prayers, games, and merriment; the ninth contained the annual feast for the payment of taxes; in the tenth the idols were carried about, and taxes were demanded; the eleventh was for the offerings to the dead and the catching of the boneta; and
the twelfth for the fishing of the same fish. Elsewhere each month had analogous divisions. Thus, in Hawaii,
'during each month there were four tabu periods of two nights and one day each, dedicated severally to each of the four great gods. All their religious rites, as well as their fishing, planting, etc., were regulated by the moon' (Alexander, Brief Hist, of the Hawaiian People, New York, 1891, p. 49 f.).
In New Zealand the year also began with the rising of the Pleiades. According to Maori tradition, this year (tau, lit. 'season') originally contained only ten months, until Whare-patari, a magician, taught the people better (cf. the curiously parallel tradition of Numa, above, p. 132^a), after which they had the customary Polynesian number of 12 or 13: Te-tahi (June), Te-rua, Te-toru, Te-wha, Te-rima, Te-ono, Te-whitu, Te-waru, Te-iwa, Te-ngahuru, Te-ngahuru-tahi, Te-ngahuru-rua, and
Te-ngahuru-tahi-aralua (Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders ^2, London, 1856, pp. 219-222). These months had the following names for their days (Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Comparative Diet., Wellington, 1891, p. 666, where similar lists are given for Hawaii, Tahiti, Rarotonga, and the Marquesas): Whiro (from whiri, 'twist,' 'plait,' because on this first night the moon looks like a twisted thread), Tirea (cf. tirau, 'peg,' 'stick'), Hoata ('long spear'). One,
Okou (cf. oka, 'wooden bowl or other open vessel' [?]), Tamatea-kai-ariki, Tamatea-ananga, Tamatea-aio, Tamatea-whakapau, Huna, Ari-roa, Mawharu, Maurea, Atua-whakahaehae, Turu, Rakau-nui, Rakau-matohi, Takirau, Oika, Korekore, Korekore-turua, Korekore-piri-ki-Tangaroa, Tangaroa-a-mua, Tangaroa-a-roto, Tangaroa-a-kiokio, O-Tane (sacred to Tane), O-Rongo-nui (sacred to Rongo), Mauri, 0-Mutu, and Mutuwhenua (cf. mutu, 'brought to an end').
In Australia, as one would expect, the lowest degree of calendrical development in the Pacific region is found. Here, in the words of Spencer-Gillen, p. 25 f.,
'time is counted by "sleeps" or "moons," or phases of the moon, for which they have definite terms : longer periods they reckon by means of seasons, having names for summer and winter. They have further definite words expressing particular times, such as morning before sunrise (ingwunthagwuntha), ... day after tomorrow (ingwunthairpina), ... in a long time (ingwuntha arbarmaninga).'
The citation of additional data from the remainder of the Pacific world would scarcely add new principles to the Polynesian calendar, which may DC described, from the evidence already presented, as a system of lunar months (or 'moons'), 12 or 13 to what we should call a year (a concept developed only imperfectly, if at all, by the peoples under consideration), usually named according to the natural phenomena, the occupations, or the religious festivals connected with them, and — in many places subdivided into two or three periods of unequal length — having from 28 to 30 days, only roughly divided into parts (aiiy thing corresponding to the hour being quite unknown), but normally named each with a special designation — the latter being, in fact, the most striking superficial characteristic of this entire system of the reckoning of time.
LITERATURE. — Abundant references, in addition to those mentioned in the art., may be found in Waitz-Gerland, Anthropol. der Naturvolker, Leipzig, 1860-77, v. a, 125, b, 86, vi. 71-74, 613-615, 763 f.; Ginzel, Handbuch der mathemat. und techn. Chronologie, Leipzig, 1906, i. 414-432, 449.
