Calendar Elements . . . the Roman Way

The dates displayed on these pages are based on the format and style expressed by later Roman calendars.

Today’s dates — a composition of many languages

The dates displayed in these pages are based on a compilation of the phases of time as expressed in several languages with a presentation of fascinating facts, fantasies, and fallacies that have merged as elements of time.

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Anglo-Saxon Days of the Week Used in English

Days of the Week and Months of the Year as Expressed in Different Languages

The equivalents in all of the following languages have been written with Roman/Latin fonts (letters), even in those situations when a language actually employs different letter forms. For example, such languages as Greek, Georgian, Russian (Cyrillic), Hebrew, and Arabic are transliterated into the Roman/Latin-type fonts.

Origins of the Seven-Day Week

In many languages, the word “week” either derives from, or is identical to the word “seven”. For example, the following major languages for week mean seven:

Hebrew     shavu'a
Armenian     yo't'neag
Arabic     isbu'u
Persian     haftah
Greek     hebdomas
Serbo-Croatian     sedmica
Gaelic     seachduin
Breton     sizun
Hungarian     hét
Cornish     seithan

In addition, the Latin word for week, septimana, is the basis for the week of the following languages:

Romanian     saptamina
Italian     settimana
Catalan     setmana
Spanish, Portuguese     semana
French     semaine

The Beginning of the Seven-Day Week

The establishment of the seven-day week is thought to be a Jewish contribution to civilization. Although the choice of the number seven as the basis for the Jewish week may have had an Assyrian or Babylonian origin, as some scholars believe, it is crucial that we remember that the ancient dwellers of Mesopotamia did not have a real seven-day week. There is evidence in a seventh century B.C. [before Christ] or B.C.E. [before the common era] Assyrian calendar which indicates that there is a non-Jewish origin of the Sabbath observance. For example, the Assyrian calendar designates the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of a lunar month as “evil days” (umu limnu or uhulgallu) which indicate specific activities that are prohibited on certain days. Generally, the prohibitive activities are spaced seven days apart from one another, including such things as abstention from chariot riding and eating cooked meat on the part of the king.

The Original Sabbath Was Probably not Jewish

There is even more evidence of the non-Jewish origin of the Sabbath when we realize that there is actually no conclusive historical evidence that Jews had observed the Sabbath regularly every seven days prior to the Exile, when they first came into close contact with the dwellers of Mesopotamia. Originally all of the major Jewish annual pilgrimage festivals were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sabbath is evidently a product of the Exile period in Jewish history, which followed the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. or B.C.E. This period is also known as the “Synagogue period”, after the institution that was established in exile to partly replace the lost Temple, and it is worth noting that the evolution of the synagogue is historically associated with that of the Sabbath. As late as the first century B.C./ b.c.e, the synagogue was still known as “the Sabbath house,” which, unlike the Temple, was deliberately designed from the very beginning for the weekly congregation of worship.

The Seven-Day Week Is Not Lunar

One of the most significant features of the week is the fact that it is not part of a lunar month. As far as the calendar is con- cerned, there is a close association between the Assyrian observance of the “evil days” and the ancient Persian observance of the first, eighth, fifteenth, and twenty-third days of the lunar cycle, or the Buddhist observance of the uposatha on the new and full moons as well as on the days that are eight days away from both. There are other practices of subdividing the lunar month into “weekly” cycles other than seven days long; for example, three ten-day intervals in ancient China and Greece as well as among the Ahanta of Ghana and the Maori of New Zealand, four eight-day systems as in northern Ethiopia, and six five-day weeks among the Wachagga of Tanzania, etc.

Whenever weeks are “tied” to the lunar cycle, they are of necessity irregular because the completion of every lunar month inter- rupts the continuous flow of the days since the month is 29.5306 days in length. Any society concerned with temporal regularity must have a continuous week for the estab-lishment of a settled life with a high level of social organization and a market economy which involves an orderly contact on regularly occurring, periodic market days. Only by establishing a weekly cycle of an unvarying, standard length could society guarantee that the continuity of life would never be interrupted by a natural phenomena such as the lunar cycle. Only by defining the week as a precise multiple of the day, rather than as a rough approximation of a fraction of the lunar month, could human beings permanently avoid the problem of having to handle odd remainders and, thus, introduce into their lives the sort of temporal regularity that they could never have with so-called lunar weeks.

The first people to have established a continuous weekly cycle that was entirely independent of the lunar cycle were the ancient Egyptians. Possibly as a result of being sun-worshippers, which essentially freed them from the necessity of observing lunar rites, they practically ignored the moon in their civil calendar, which was based on twelve 30-day months, each of which was, in turn, subdivided into three ten-day weeks. The additional five epagomenal days would interrupt the continuous flow of the week just once a year.

The Jews Are Given Credit for Establishing the Continuous Seven-Day Cycle

The rise of the Sabbath cult within Juda-ism coincided with the withdrawal from worshiping the celestial bodies, and parti-cularly the moon. In other words, the separ-ation of the week from a natural cycle such as the waxing and waning of the moon can be seen as “part of a general movement toward introducing a supernatural deity.” Not being personified as any particular nat-ural force, the Jewish God was to be regar-ded as untouched by nature in any way. Accordingly, the day dedicated to this God was to be regarded as part of a divine tem-poral pattern that transcends even nature itself. That obviously involved the process of separating the week from nature and its rhythms. Only by being based on an entirely artificial mathematical rhythm could the Sabbath observance become totally indepen-dent of the lunar or any other natural cycle or phenomena.

A continuous seven-day cycle that runs throughout history paying no attention to the moon and its phases is a distinctively Jewish invention. The continuous week is considered to be one of the most significant breakthroughs in human beings’ attempts to break away from being prisoners of nature and to gain emancipation from the irregu-larities of the moon and so to create a social-economic world of regularity with a degree of reliability.

The Jewish Shabbath Lives on in Some Modern Languages

The early Christians, since they were predominantly Jewish, knew Saturday as Shabbath, and this original Hebrew word can still be heard today in the word for “Saturday” in many languages that are spoken primarily by Christians:

Greek     sábbato
Armenian     shapat'
Russian     subbota
Serbo-Croatian     subota
Polish     sobota
Czech     sobota
Slovak     sobota
Slovene     sobota
Italian     sabato
Portuguese     sabado
Spanish     sábado
Catalan     dissabte
French     samedi
Romanian     sâmbata **
Hungarian     szombat

Even some non-Christian languages; such as, the Persian shambah and the Arabic yom-es-sabt use a version of the Hebrew term.

Is Sunday or Monday the First Day of the Week?
The New Testament of the Christian Bible refers to Sunday by its original Hebrew name, “the first day of the week,” and so Friday by the Greek word paraskeué ,** which was used during the first and second centuries by Jews dwelling in Greek-speaking communities, and which literally means “the day of Prepara-tion,” apparently referred to “preparation” for the Sabbath. The rest of the days of the week were originally named by the early Church in accordance with their temporal distance from the preceding Sabbath, following the Hebrew practice. Monday was thus designated as “the second day after the Sabbath” (secunda sabbati, in Latin), Tuesday as “the third day after the Sabbath” (tertia sabbati), and so on. This ancient system is still used, at least in part, in such modern languages as Armenian, Greek, Portuguese, and Icelandic.

The early Christians were Jewish and their observance of Sunday originally did not conflict with their adherence to the Jewish week, which essentially revolved around the practice of Saturday as the day of worship. The practice of the Lord’s Day originated not as a substitute for the Sabbath observance, but, rather, as an addition to it, and early Christians commemorated both Sunday (as Christians) and Saturday (as Jews). When Christianity was born, there were even non-Jews who practiced the custom of resting on the Sabbath.

The original Jewish week, traditionally revolved around the observance of Saturday as “the seventh day,” and obviously began on Sunday. It was thus from Sunday that Jews began counting when designating the days of the week by ordinal numbers reflecting their temporal distance from the preceding Sabbath. As we have already seen, Judaism bequeathed this traditional conception of the week as a Sunday-through-Saturday cycle to Christianity, and that was also true later of Islam. That is how Sunday came to be associated in so many European and Middle Eastern languages with “one” (or “first”), Monday with “two” (or “second”), and so on. Some of these languages also associate Wednesday with “midweek.”

Despite the concept of Sunday as the first day of the week, there are a number of Euro-pean languages which associate Monday‹rather than Sunday‹with “one” (or “first”), Tuesday with “two” (or “second”), and so on. In addition, even in English, the day that is “officially” supposed to begin the week is nevertheless included in the concept known as the “weekend,” which obviously suggests something that is coming to a close.

Although the week still “officially” begins on Sunday, most working adults as well as school children nevertheless experience it as a cycle that begins on Monday. This is a result of the replacement of the Jewish Sabbath by the Christian Lord’s Day as the weekly day of rest in all predominantly Christian societies. Jews, as well as most Israelis, Seventh Day Adventists, and others continue to experience the work week as beginning on Sunday.

Based on information from The Week, an Essay on the Origin & Development of the Seven-Day Cycle by Francis H. Colson (pp. 119-120), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1926.

English days of the week

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

English months

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

“Our knowledge of the Northmen’s Calendar is imperfect, but there is ample evidence that it contained 12 months of 30 days, each containing six weeks of five days each.” Information from Skalds Kaparmal, c. 63 A.D. gives us the following Nordic day-names.

Tysdag
Odinsdag
Thorsdag
Frjadag
Laugaardag (bath day) or Thvattdag (washing day) = Saturday

“Saturday” had no direct derivation from the classical Saturn as is often suggested. “Saturn” was not known in Scandinavia during the five-day calendar period which was mentioned in several passages of Nordic sagas.

It seems evident that the Christian missionaries were responsible for the introduction of the seven-day week, and as a compromise with the traditional pagan god-names, they accepted the established names of the five days and were content to have the two additional day names they had already instituted in other parts of the Roman empire.

Based on information from The Calendar, Its History, Structure and Improvement by Alexander Philip, Cambridge University Press, 1921.

Afghan (Pushtu or Pushtoo) days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Afghan (Pushtu or Pushtoo) months

Eastern Afghani Pushtoo

Hasan wa huseyn
Gul shakara
Rumbey chor, Wrumbey chor
Dwayema chor
Dreyema chor
Thalorema chor
Do Hadai miasht, Bzerga miasht
Shawkadar, Do shawkadare miasht
Shawkadar, Do shawkadare miasht
Rozha, Do rozha miasht
Warukay achtar
Miyana miasht
Loy achtar

Western Afghani Pushtoo

Hasan hyseyn
Sapara, thapara
Lumrey khor
Dwaheyma khor
Dreyma khor
Thalarema chor
Do hadai taali miasht
Barat, Barate miasht
Rozha, Do rozha miasht
Kuchnay akhtar, Do kuchni akhtar
Miyana
Loy akhtar

Since 1968 (1347 Shamsi), the Afghani solar calendar has been identical with the Iranian Solar calendar.

“Modern” Afghanis utilize three calendars: the Gregorian (for commercial uses), a variant of the lunar Hegira and a variant of the Iranian Solar. Just as in the Arabic lunar-Hegira calendar, the Afghani variation uses July 15, 622 A.D. as its epoch. It also has 12 months with the odd months (1-11) having 30 days and the even months (2-12) having 29 days. The last month has 29 days in a common year and 30 days in a leap year.

Based on information from The Book of Calendars by Frank Parise, ed., Facts On File, Inc. New York, 1982.

Albanian (Shqip) days

e hënë [mandi] (Monday)
e martë [tjuuzdi] (Tuesday)
e mërkurë [wenzdi] (Wednesday)
e enjte [thëërzdi] (Thursday)
e premte [frajdi] (Friday)
e shtunë [sätërdi] (Saturday)
e dielë (djelë) [sandi] (Sunday)

Hënë, or Hanë(e) is vernacular for “moon.”
Martë and Mërkure refer to Mars and Mercury, respectively.
Enjte is thought to have come from a local deity identified with Zeus.
Premte may mean “evening.” If so, it may either mean: (1) “eve” or “vigil” and is equivalent to the church term “preparation” or (2) it is another name for “Venus,” “Hesperus,” or “evening star.” Since the other names are not church terms, #2 is most likely the meaning (according to F.H. Colson).
Dielë, or Dielli, is believed to be the vernacular for “sun.”

Based on information from The Week, an Essay on the Origin & Develop-ment of the Seven-Day Cycle by Francis H. Colson (pp. 119-120), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1926.

Albanian (Shqip) months

janar/kallnor or kallnuer (January)
shkurt (February)
mars (March)
prill (April)
maj (May)
qershor (June)
korrik (July)
gusht (August)
shtator (September)
tetor (October)
nëntor (November)
dhjetor (December)

Based on information from Mediterranean Europe Phrasebook by Stephen Schwartz and Gjon Sinishta,Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd., Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1992.

and

Berlitz East European Phrase Book, Berlitz Publishing Company, Inc., Oxford, England, 1995.

and

Dictionary English-Turkish-Albanian by Rian Disci, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey, 1994.

The Albanian or Shqip Language

There are about four million speakers of Albanian, three million of which are in Albania, one and a half million in the former Yugoslavia, and some in Italy and Greece. The Albanians refer to their language as shqip and their country as Shqipëria. Two major dialects are Tosk, spoken in the south, and Gheg, in the north.
Albanian started to use the Roman alphabet in 1908 and it contains many words which are not found in any other Indo-European language, although Latin, Greek, Turkish, and Slavic languages have been incorporated into it. Albanian is a separate and independent branch of the Indo-European language. Its origin is not known and scholars could not prove its membership as a member of the Indo-European family of languages until 1854.

Based on information from The Languages of the World by Kenneth Katzner, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK, 1995.

Anglo-Saxon days

sunnandaeg, (Sunday)
monandaeg (Monday)
Tiwesdaeg (Tuesday)
Wodensdaeg (Wednesday)
Thursdaeg (Thursday)
Frigedaeg (Friday)
Saterndaeg (Saturday)

For some Old Scandinavians, the name for Saturday was Loverdag, “bath-night” or “washing-day” because the Danes were noted for their cleanliness, according to an old chronicler.

Based on information from Clockwork Man by Lawrence Wright, Elek Books Ltd, London, 1968, p. 43.

Anglo-Saxon months

Wulf-monath (January)
Sprout-kale (February)
Hlyd-monath (March)
Eostur-monath (April)
Thromilchi (May)
Litha (June)
Maed-monath (July)
Weod-monath or Scere-monath (August)
Harvest-monath (September)
Winterfylleth (October)
Blod-monath (November)
Heligh-monath (December)

Wulf-monath indicated the time of the year when hungry wolves came into the villages.
Sprout-kale was the time of the year when cabbages sprouted.
Hlyd-monath expressed the month when there were storms.
Eostur-monath commemorated the god-dess of fertility.
Thromilchi supposedly was the month when cows could be milked three times a day.
Litha has a meaning which can not be determined with certainty.
Maed-monath (mead-month) was when meadows were in bloom.
Weod-monath (weed-month) or Scere-monath, was the month for
shearing.
Harvest-monath is easily understood.
Winterfylleth, or the full moon, marked the beginning of winter.
Blod-monath (blood month) was when the cattle and other domestic animals were butchered.
Heligh-monath was “holy-month.”

Based on information from Clockwork Man by Lawrence Wright, published by Elek Books Ltd, London, 1968.

Arabic days

as sabt (Saturday)
al aHad (Sunday)
al eathayn (Monday)
athalathe (Tuesday)
al arbe’a’ (Wednesday)
al khamis (Thursday)
al jum’a (Friday)

Arabic months

yænæyir (kænun æt-tæni)
[kanun ethani or yanayer] (January)
fibrayir (shabat)
[shobat or febrayer] (February)
mæris (azar) [a’thar or mares] (March)
abril (nisæn) [nisan or ibreel] (April)
mæyo (ayyar) [ayyar or mayu] (May)
yonyo (hozæyran)
[Huzayran or younyeh] (June)
yolyo (tæmmuz) [tammuz or yulyeh] (July)
agostos (æb) [ab or o’gustus] (August)
sibtæmbir (æylul)
[aylul or sebtember] (September)
oktobar (tishrin æl-æwwæl)
[tishreen al awwal or october] (October)
novæmbir (tishrin ættæni)
[tishreen athani or november] (November)
disæmbir (kænun æl-æwwæl)
[kanun al awwal or december] (December)

Based on information from Berlitz Arabic for travellers by the staff of Berlitz Guides, Berlitz Publishing S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland, 1989 (those shown above in parentheses).

Spoken Arabic of the Arabian Gulf by “Associated companies, branches and representatives throughout the world”, Librairie du Liban, Beirut, Lebanon, 1981 [those shown above in the brackets].

Eastern Armenian days

y-ergushapt’i, yerkushaphti'; erkushabt’i (Monday)
y-erekshapti, yerekshabthi'; erek’shab’ti (Tuesday)
chorek-shapti, chorekshaphthi'; ch’orek’shabt’i (Wednesday)
hinqshapti, hingshapthi; hingshabt’i (Thursday)
urpha'th; urbat’ (Friday)
shapha'th; shabat’ (Saturday)
ckiracki'; kiraki (Sunday)

Eastern Armenian months

hunva'r (January)
pheteorva'r (February)
mart (March)
apri'l (April)
mayi's (May)
huni's (June)
huli's (July)
ogosto's (August)
sephtembe'r (September)
hocktembe'r (October)
noyembe'r (November)
dektembe'r (December)

Based on information from Armenian-English/English-Armenian Dictionary by Dilana Aroutunian and Susanna Aroutunian, Hippocrene Books Inc., New York, 1993.

Azerbaijani days

bazar günü (Sunday)
bazar ertuhsi (Monday)
çuhrsuhnbuh axsaml (Tuesday)
çuhrsuhnbuh günü (Wednesday)
cümuh axsaml (Thursday)
cümuh günü (Friday)
suhnbuh (Saturday)

Azerbaijani months

yanvar (January)
fevral (February)
mart (March)
aprel (April)
may (May)
iyun (June)
iyul (July)
avgust (August)
sentyabr (September)
oktyabr (October)
(November)
dekabr (December)

New Year’s Day starts on 22 March.

Source unknown.

Aztec day names (20)

There are twenty named days contained in one month. Each day also names the years

cipactli: crocodile
ehecatl: wind
calli: house or underworld
cuetzpallin: lizard
coatl: serpent or snake
miquiztli: death
mazatl: deer
tochtli: rabbit
atl: water
itzcuintli: dog
ozomatli: monkey
malinalli: herb: grass
acatl: reed
ocelotl: jaguar
quauhtli: eagle
cozcaquauhtli: vulture
ollin: movement
tecpatl: flint knife
quiauitl: rain
xochitl: flower

Ancient Babylonian and (Jewish) months

duzu (tammuz)
abu (ab)
ululu (elul)
tashritu (tishri)
arasamnu (marheshvan)
kislimu (kislev)
tebetu (tebeth)
shabatu (shebat)
addaru (adar)
nisanu (nisan)
aiaru (iyyar)
simanu (sivan)

Based on information from Chronology of the Ancient World by E.J. Bickerman, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1968.

Bantu-Botatwe dialect days

in-sondo, in sunda, n-sondo (Sunday)
my-sumbuluko, mu-simbuluko (Monday)
bwa bili, u bwa bili, bu ti bili (Tuesday)
bwa tatu, u bwa tatu, bu ti tatu (Wednesday)
bwa ne, buti banda (Thursday)
bwa sanu, u bwa sanu, bu ti musanu (Friday)
mu-jibelo, bu-tabula kamwi (Saturday)

Bantu-Botatwe dialect is thought to be the “most archaic of the Bantu languages.”

Bantu-Botatwe dialect months

Mwkazimaziba, Mukazimalambwa (January)
Mulume, Mulumi (February)
Muyoba, Muyobo (March)
Mukubwe-kaangala, Cisangule (April)
Kaanda-kanini, Inkomboola-bulezi (May)
Ganda-pati, Ivwivivi-pati (June)
Kunkumuna-masamu, Kazyala-konze (July)
Itwi, Katwe-kacela (August)
Ivwivwi, Katu (September)
Ka-vwmbi-kanini, Kazyumbi-kanini (October)
Ivumbi-pati, Izyumbi pati (November)
Nalupale, Simwenje (December)

Based on information from English Vernacular Dictionary of the Bantu-Botatwe Dialects of Northern Rhodesia by J. Torrend and S.J. Gregg Press Ltd., Farnborough, Hants, England, 1967.

Basque (Euskara, Euskera, Eskuara, or Eskwara) days

astelehena (Monday)
asteatea, astearte (Tuesday)
asteazkena, asteazken (Wednesday)
osteguna (orzeguna), ostegun (Thursday)
ostirala (ortzirala), ostiral; barikua (Friday)
larunbata, larunbat, larunbateko, or zapatua (Saturday)
igandea, igande, igadeko or domeka, dominical (Sunday)

Basque (Euskara, Euskera, Eskuara, or Eskwara) months

urtarrila (January) New Year month or black month
otsaila (February) bull or wolf month
martxoa (March) tepid month
apirila (April) weeding or fasting-bread month
maiatza (May) leaf month
ekaina (June) seed-time, bean or barley month
uztaila (July) harvest or wheat month
abuztua, abustua (August) month of drought
iraila (September) fern or ear month
urria (October) gathering month
azaroa (November) sowing month or harvest month
abendua (December) binding up of vegetation(?)

The months refer throughout to the vegetation and to agriculture (p. 283-284).

Based on information from 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, professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History in the University of Lund, Sweden, C.W.K. Gleer-up, 1920.

There are no written records of Euskura, the Basque language, known before the Middle Ages, even though it had been spoken for at least a thousand years by that time. Some scholars say its origins can be traced to a language spoken on the Iberian peninsula before the Roman occupation, while others maintain that it bears a familial resemblance to certain Caucasian languages, such as Georgian. It is said that there are any where from half a million to one million Euskura-speakers in Spain and France. About 900,000 are estimated to be in Spain.
Bilbao, the capital of Vizcaya, is the major city of the Basque region. Most Basques are bilingual or trilingual, speaking Spanish or French (or both) in adddition to Euskara. It is the “only non-Indo-European language of Western Europe.”

Based on information from The Pyrenees, revised and edited by Marc Dubin, The Rough Guides, London, 1994.

Bengali days [needs verification]

soom bar (Monday)
mangal bar (Tuesday)
budh bar (Wednesday)
briwaspati bar (Thursday)
sukra bar (Friday)
sani bar (Saturday)
rabi bar (Sunday)

Bengali months [Needs verification]

chaitra (January)
baisakh (February)
jaistha (March)
asarh (April)
shravan (May)
bhadra (June)
kartik (July)
aughran (August)
paus (September)
magh (October)
phagun (November)
(December)

From a native-speaker.

Bohemian days

sandej (Sunday)
mandej (Monday)
tyuzdej (Tuesday)
wenzdeg (Wednesday)
thorzdej (Thursday)
frajdej (Friday)
saetrdej (Saturday)

Bohemian months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Bretonian days

al Lun (al loar) [moon] (Monday)
ar Meurzh [Mars] (Tuesday)
ar Mer'her [Mercury] (Wednesday)
ar Yaou [Jupiter] (Thursday)
ar GWener [Venus] (Friday)
ar Sadorn [Saturn] (Saturday)
ar Sul (an heol) [sun] (Sunday)

Bretonian months
Genver (January)
C"Hwevrer (February)
Meurzh (March)
Ebrel (April)
Mae (May)
Even/Mezheven (June)
Gouere (July)
Eost (August)
GWengolo (September)
Here (October)
Du (November)
Kerzu (December)

Bulgarian days

ponedélnik (Monday)
vtornik (Tuesday)
srjáda (Wednesday)
cetvartak (Thursday)
petak (Friday)
sabota (Saturday)
nedalja (Sunday)

Bulgarian months

januári (January)
fevruárí (February)
mart (March)
apríl (April)
máj (May)
júni (June)
júli (July)
ávgust (August)
septémvri (September)
októmvri (October)
noémvri (November)
dekémvri (December)

Based on information from Eastern Europe Phrase Book, Bulgarian section by Dr. Angel Pachev, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1992.

Bulgarian, a Basic Slavic Language

Bulgarian is spoken by about eight million people, or 90% of the Bulgarian population. It made an important contribution in the historical development of the Slavic language when a dialect of Bulgarian was used as the basis for evolving the first alphabet when it was devised in the ninth century A.D.
Old Bulgarian, or Old Church Slavonic as it was later called, functioned as the literary vehicle of all the Slavic languages and it was one of the three major literary laguages of Europe during the Middle Ages. Now, the modern Bulgarian alphabet is almost completely the same one as used in the Russian script.

Based on information from The Languages of the World, by Kenneth Katzner, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK, 1995.

Burmese days

tuhinguhnwenee (Sunday)
tuhninlanee (Monday)
inganee (Tuesday)
boudahunee (Wednesday)
tjatapatenee (Thursday)
tautjanee (Friday)
suhnenee (Saturday)

Byelorussian (Belorussian) days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Byelorussian (Belorussian) months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Cameroun days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Cameroun months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Both French and English are the official languages, though French is more widely spoken. You won’t hear much English, for example, in Douala or Yaoundé. Most government personnel, however, understand both. English is the principal non-African language in only 10% of the countrytwo provinces in the far western area bordering Nigeria, including the towns of Bamenda, Mamfé and Kumba. Pidgin, or bush English, is the conversational language in these provinces and widely understood even in th francophone provinces. Knowing a little will help immensely in bargaining and getting to know the people.
Cameroun has more African languages than just about any country in Africa. Five of the major ones are Bamiléké (spoken in the western highlands and around Douala), Ewondo (around Yaoundé), Baamoun (around Foumban), and Fulfulde and Arabic (in the north).

Based on information from Central Africa—a Travel Survival Kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Carolingian months

Ninth century, names of months given by Charlemagne in the Frankish language which is shown below in English.

Winter-month (January)
Mud-month (February)
Spring-month (March)
Easter-month (April)
Joy-month (May)
Plough-month (June)
Hay-month (July)
Harvest-month (August)
Wind-month (September)
Vintage (wine)-month (October)
Autumn-month (November)
Holy-month (December)

Just as in the Saxon calendar, the monthly names are seasonal. Although “Easter-month” and “Holy-month” may seem to be Christian, they are not.

Based on information from Clockwork Man by Lawrence Wright, published by Elek Books Ltd, London, England, 1968.

Catalonian (Català) days

diumenge (Sunday)
dilluns (Monday)
dimarts (Tuesday)
dimecres (Wednesday)
dijous (Thursday)
divendres (Friday)
dissabte (Saturday)

Catalonian (Català) months

gener (January)
febrer (February)
març (March)
abril (April)
maig (May)
juny (June)
juliol (July)
agost (August)
setembre (September)
octubre (October)
novembre (November)
desembre (December)

Based on information from Juan Arrufat, a native Catalonian speaker.

Catalá is a Romance language which has evolved from medieval Provençal which has survived centralist campaigns either favoring Castilian or actively suppressing Catalá from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Although the use of Catalá (Catalan) was prohibited under General Franco, it is again a flourishing language, spoken by between three and four million people around the eastern part of the Pyrenees range as well as around Barcelona.

Based on information from The Pyrenees, revised and edited by Marc Dubin, The Rough Guides, London, 1994.

Ceylonese (Singhalese) days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Ceylonese (Singhalese) months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Chad days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Chad months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

French is the official language. The principal African languages are Sara, spoken primarily in the south, and Turku, a form of Arabic frequently referred to as Chadian Arabic, spoken in N’Djamena and northern Chad.

Based on information from Central Africaa travel survival kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Chechnya days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Chechnya months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Chinese days and months

(see Mandarin (Chinese) days and months)

Congolese (former French colony) days

mokolo ya libosó [1st day] (Monday)
mokolo ya míbalé [2nd day] (Tuesday)
mokolo ya mísáto [3rd day] (Wednesday)
mokolo ya mínei [4th day] (Thursday)
mokolo ya mitáno [5th day] (Friday)
póso [week] (Saturday)
eyenga, lomíngo (Sunday/Feastday)

Congolese (former French colony) months

sánza ya libosó [1st month] (January)
sánza ya míbalé [2nd month] (February)

sánza ya mísáto [3rd month] (March)
sánza ya mínei [4th month] (April)

sánza ya mítáno [5th month] (May)
sánza ya motóba [6th month] (June)
sánza ya sámbó [7th month] (July)
sánza ya mwámbe [8th month] (August)
sánza ya libwá [9th month] (September)
sánza ya zómi [10th month] (October)
sánza ya zómi na mókó [11th month] (November)
sánza ya zómi na míbalé [12th month] (December)

Based on information from Lingala für Kongo und Zaire by Rogérto Goma Mpasi, published by Peter Rump Verlags-und Vertriebsges. mbH, Bielefeld, Germany, 1992.

French is the official language of Congo and Lingala is the main African language spoken in the north and around Brazzaville. Munukutuba, an offshoot of Kikongo, the native language of the Kongo people, is the main African language in the south around the Pointe-Noire.

Based on information from Central Africa—a Travel Survival Kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Croatian (Hrvatski) days

ponedjeljak (Monday)
utorak (Tuesday)
srijeda (Wednesday)
c'etvrtak (Thursday)
petak (Friday)
subota (Saturday)
nedjelja (Sunday)

Monday, or ponedjeljak, means the “first day after no activities” or the “first day after doing nothing [non-working day].”
Tuesday, or utorak, means the “second day after no activities [non-working day].”
Wednesday, or srijeda, means “middle” of the week.
Thursday, or cetvrtak, means “fourth working day” after the non-working day.
Friday, or petak, means “fifth working day” after the non-working day.
Saturday, or subota, means “sabbath.”
Sunday, or nedjelja, means “no activities” or “doing nothing” [non-working day].

Croatian (Hrvatski) months

sijec'anj (January)
veljac'a (February)
oz'ujak (March)
travanj (April)
svibanj (May)
lipanj (June)
srpanj (July)
kolovoz (August)
rujan (September)
listopad (October)
studeni (November)
prosinac (December)

Based on information from Mediterranean Europe Phrasebook by Draga Gelt, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1992.

Berlitz East European Phrase Book, Berlitz Publishing Company, Ltd., Oxford, England, 1995.

International Dictionary in 21 Languages by H.L. Ouseg, Philosophical Library, New York, 1962.

Also information provided by Mr. Heinz Lutz, of Oestrich/Winkel, Germany, an “official-language translator” for private and legal matters.

January, or sijecanj, means
February, or veljaca, means
March, or ozujak, means
April, or the trava in travanj, means “the grass.”
May, or svibanj, means
June, or the lipa in lipanj means the Lindin tree, or probably “when the leaves come out on the trees.”
July, or the srp in srpanj, means the “sickle.”
August, or the kola in kolovoz, means “wagon” and the voz, or voziti, means to “drive;” or “driving” or “riding in a wagon.”
September, or rujan, means
October, or the list in listopad means “leaf” and pad means to “fall,” or the “falling of the leaves.”
November, or studeno, as in studeni means “cold.”
December, or prosinac, means

Czech (C"esky;) days

ponde'lí (Monday)
útery; (Tuesday)
str'eda (Wednesday)
c'tvrtek (Thursday)
pátek (Friday)
sobota (Saturday)
nede'le (Sunday)

Czech (C"esky;) months

leden (January)
únor (February)
br'ezen (March)
duben (April)
kve]ten (May)
c'erven (June)
c'ervenec (July)
srpen (August)
zár'í (September)
r'íjen (October)
listopad (November)
prosinec (December)

Based on information from Eastern Europe Phrasebook by Richard Nebesky, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1992.

Berlitz East European Phrase Book, Berlitz Publishing Company, Ltd., Oxford, England, 1995.

Calendar: Praha 1996 by Ivan Král, Prag, Czech Republic, 1995.

Danish (Dansk) days

mandag, Monday
tirsdag (Tuesday)
onsdag (Wednesday)
torsdag (Thursday)
fredag (Friday)
lørdag (Saturday)
søndag (Sunday)

Danish (Dansk) months

Januar (January)
Februar (February)
Marts (March)
April (April)
Maj (May)
Juni (June)
Juli (July)
August (August)
September (September)
Oktober (October)
November (November)
December (December)

Based on information from Say it in Danish by Gerda M. Andersen, Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1958.

Dutch days

Maandag (Monday)
Dinsdag (Tuesday)
Woensdag (Wednesday)
Donderdag (Thursday)
Vrijdag (Friday)
Zaterdag (Saturday)
Zondag (Sunday)

Dutch months

Januari (January)
Februari (February)
Maart (March)
April (April)
Mei (May)
Juni (June)
Juli (July)
Augustus (August)
September (September)
Oktober (October)
November (November)
December (December)

Based on information from Say it in Dutch by Anna M. L. Hunningher, Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1958.

Egyptian days

yohm al-ahadd (Sunday)
yohm al-itnin (Monday)
yohm at-talat (Tuesday)
yohm al-arbaŒa (Wednesday)
yohm al-khamis (Thursday)
yohm-al-gum’a (Friday)
yohm as-sabt (Saturday)

Egyptian months

yanayir (January)
fibrayir (February)
maris (March)
abril (April)
mayu (May)
yunyu (June)
yulyu (July)
aghustus (August)
sibtimbir (September)
’uktoobir (October)
nufimbir (November)
disimbir (December)

Equatorial Guinea days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Equatorial Guinea months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa where the official language is Spanish. Many people don’t speak it; even pupils in school speak it only with great difficulty. To increase the country’s ties with the CFA (Communauté Financielle Africaine) franc zone, the government is strongly pushing the instruction and use of French. Fang is the main African language; on Bioko Island, Bubi is also widely spoken.

Based on information from Central Africa—a Travel Survival Kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Haw-thorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Esperanto days

lundo (Monday)
mardo (Tuesday)
merkredo (Wednesday)
àau"do (Thursday)
vendredo (Friday)
sabato (Saturday)
dimanc]o (Sunday)

Esperanto months

Januaro (January)
Februaro (February)
Marto (March)
Aprilo (April)
Majo (May)
Junio (June)
Julio (July)
Au""gusto (August)
Septembro (September)
Oktobro (October)
Novembro (November)
Decembro (December)

Based on information from Teach Yourself Esperanto by John Cresswell and John Hartley, The English Universities Press Ltd, London, England, 1966.

Estonian (Esti keel) days

esmaspäev (Monday)
teisipäev (Tuesday)
kolmapäev (Wednesday)
neljapäev (Thursday)
reede (Friday)
laupäev (Saturday)
pühapäev (Sunday)

Estonian (Esti keel) months

jaanuar (January)
veebruar (February)
märts (March)
aprill (April)
mai (May)
juuni (June)
juuli (July)
august (August)
september (September)
oktoober (October)
november (November)
detsember (December)

Based on information from Berlitz East European Phrase Book, Berlitz Publishing Company, Ltd., Oxford, England, 1995.

Ethiopian (Amharic) days

sänbät (Sunday)
sänno (Monday)
maksänno (Tuesday)
rob, räbu (Wednesday)
hamus, amus (Thursday)
arb (Friday)
sänbät, qadame (Saturday)

Ethiopian (Amharic) months

tarr (January)
yakkatit (February)
mäggabit (March)
miyazeya (April)
ganbot (May)
säne (June)
hamle (July)
nähase (August)
mäsharäm (September)
taqamt (October)
hadar (November)
tahsas (December)

Based on information from Languages-of-the-World Publications compiled by A. Zekaria, New Delhi, India, 1991.

Finnish (Suomi) days

sunnuntai (Sunday)
maanantai (Monday)
tiistai (Tuesday)
keskiviikko (Wednesday)
torstai (Thursday)
perjantai (Friday)
lauantai (Saturday)

Finnish (Suomi) months

tammikuu (January)
helmikuu (February)
maaliskuu (March)
huhikuu (April)
toukokuu (May)
kesäkuu (June)
heinäkuu (July)
elokuu (August)
syyskuu (September)
lokakuu (October)
marraskuu (November)
joulukuu (December)

Based on information from International Dictionary in 21 Languages by H.L. Ouseg, Philosophical Library, New York, 1962.

French (Français) days
dimanche (Sunday)
lundi (Monday)
mardi (Tuesday)
mercredi (Wednesday)
jeudi (Thursday)
vendredi (Friday)
samedi (Saturday)

French (Français) months

janvier (January)
février (February)
mars (March)
avril (April)
mai (May)
juin (June)
juillet (July)
août (August)
septembre (September)
octobre (October)
novembre (November)
décembre (December)

Based on information from Collins French Gem Dictionary by Gustave Rudler and Norman C. Anderson, Collins Publishers, London and Glascow, 1962.

Frisian days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Frisian months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

Gabon days

(Sunday)
(Monday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Thursday)
(Friday)
(Saturday)

Gabon months

(January)
(February)
(March)
(April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
(August)
(September)
(October)
(November)
(December)

French is the official language. The main African language in the north is Fang; about half the people speak it. Other widely spoken languages include Bapunu, spoken in the south, Bandgabi, spoken in the east and in the south around France-ville, and Eshira.

Based on information from Central Africa—a Travel Survival Kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Geez (classical Ethiopic) days

’uhh ud, ’ahud sanbat, sanbata kruhstiya\n (Sunday)
(Monday)
s;alus (Tuesday)
rabu á (Wednesday)
hamus (Thursday)
áarb (Friday)
sanbat, qadamit sanbat, qada\m, sanbata áayhud (Saturday)

Geez (classical Ethiopic) months

maskaram (lufi) (January)
tuhguhmt (February)
huhda\r (March)
ta\hs;a\s; (April)
t"[uhr (May)
magga\bit (June)
miya\zuhya\ (July)
guhnbot (wastori) (August)
s;uhne (September)
hamle (October)
nahse (November)
pa\g"men ( *uhnsay, lawa\huhg) (December)

Based on information from Comparative Dictionary of Ge’ez (Geez) (classical Ethiopic) by Wolf Leslau, Otto Harrassowitz Pub., Wiesbaden, Germany, 1991.

Geez is the classical language of Ethiopia and belongs to the Semitic language family. The other Semitic-Ethopian langu-ages are Tigre and Tigrinya (known as North Ethiopic), Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia), Argobba, Harari, Gafat, and Gurage (called South Ethiopic). Although Geez ceased to be spoken in the 12th or 13th Century, it has remained the language of literature and of liturgy (reli-gious services).
Our knowledge of the language derives from the vast literature written in Geez. The literature includes religiouis texts (such as the Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, liturgical literature, homiletic, theological, and magical texts, stories of martyrs and saints, religious poetry, hymns in honor of Christ, the Virgin, the martyrs, the saints, and angels), as well as secular writings (histories and romances, legal, mathematics, and medical texts). While some were translations from Arabic, Greek, either directly or through Arabic, from Syriac, and Coptic, mostly through Arabic.

-Wolf Leslau

Georgian days

orschabati (Monday)
ßamschabati (Tuesday)
otchschabati (Wednesday)
chutschabati (Thursday)
p’araßk’ewi (Friday)
schabati (Saturday)
k’wira (Sunday)

Georgian months

ianwari (January)
teberwali (February)
mart’i (March)
ap’rili (April)
maißi (May)
iwnißi (June)
iwilißi (July)
agwißt’o (August)
ßekt’emberi (September)
okt’omberi (October)
noemberi (November)
dek’emberi (December)

German (Deutsch) days

Montag (Monday)
Dienstag (Tuesday)
Mittwoch (Wednesday)
Donnerstag (Thursday)
Freitag (Friday)
Samstag/Sonnabend (Saturday)
Sonntag (Sunday)

Dienstag

Dienstag may not mean, “day of service” as many Germans believe.

Originally, the “week” came from the Babylonians and then through the Jews to the Greeks and the Romans. The days of the week were named after the gods of the seven ancient planets (thought to be the sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn). The Germanic people learned about the planets from the Romans in about the 4th century A.D. and replaced the names with those of their corresponding German (Teutonic) gods.

The name Dienstag spread from the Lower Rhine in their dialect as Dinges, Dinsdach, and from the Middle Netherlands as Dinxendach which apparently goes back to an inscription that is Roman-Frisian from the 3rd century A.D. named for the god Mars Thingsus, the “Thing” protector. Originally from Old English ping, “condition, state, meeting, court of justice,” related to pingian, “to intercede, plead, arrange,” Old Saxon, Old Frisian, “thing”, Old Norse, ping, “assemgly,” Middle Dutch, dinc, Dutch, ding, Old High German, “thing”, ding, Middle High German, dinc, “assembly,” German Ding, “thing.” All of these words stand for the Indo-European tenkos, from the base ten, “to extend (in space or in time),” and originally denoted “meeting at a fixed time,” whence developed the meanings “affairs, things, thing.” Gothic Peihs, “time,” originally meant “assembly taking place at a fixed time.”

The word is a copy of the Latin Martis dies. The Germanic god is the equivalent of “heaven’s god” (himmel’s gott). In Old High German, it was Ziu; in Old English, it was Tiw; and in Old Icelandic, it was Tyr [the name is originally related to the Greek god, Zeus, who as the god of war was changed to the equivalent Roman god, Mars].

The name of this god was also maintained in other names of the week days. For example, Alemannisch was Zistig; Middle High German, Ziestac; Old High German, Ziostag; Old English Tiwesdaeg, and Old Icelandic Tysdagr, then Swedish Tisdag, and English Tuesday. Corresponding to these names is the Bavarian, Ertag or Erchtag (Dienstag) as a word from the Gothic mission borrowed from the Greek Areos Hemera (day of Ares, meaning Mars, and Ziu). The Bavarian and Alemanisch dialect words were superseded in the 17th century by “Dienstag.”

Based on information from Duden Etymologie.

Also, Noah Webster stated in his dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, that one of the meanings for Saxon “thing is a meeting, council or convention; thingan, thingian, to hold a meeting, to plead, to supplicate Š .” He goes on to say that “German ding, a thing, a court; dingen, to go to law, to hire or haggle; Dingstag, Tuesday, [thing’s day], beding, condition, clause Š .” From Dutch, “ding, thing, business; dingen, to plead, to attempt, to cheapen; dingbank, the bar; dingdagen, session-days; dinger, dingster, a pleader; dingtaal, plea; Dingsdag, Tuesday; beding, condition, agreement; bedingen, to condition; Swedish ting, thing, cause, also a court, assizes;* tinga, to hire, bargain or agree; Danish ting, a thing, affair, business, case, a court of justice; tinger, to strike up a bargain, to haggle; tingbog, records of a court, [thing-book]; tingdag, the court day, the assizes;* tinghold, jurisdiction; tingmænd, jurors, jury, [thing-men]; tingsag, a cause or suit at law, [thing-sake]. The primary sense of the root, which is tig or thig, is to press, urge, drive or strain, and hence its application to courts, or suits at law; a seeking of right. We observe that Dingsdag, Dingdag, in some of the dialects signifies Tuesday, and this from the circumstance that that day of the week was, as it still is in some states, the day of opening courts; that is, litigation day, or suitors’ day, a day of striving for justice; or perhaps combatday, the day of trial by battle. This leads to the unfolding of another fact. Among our ancestors, Tig or Tiig, was the name of the deity of combat and war, the Teutonic Mars; that is, strife, combat deified. This word was contracted into tiw or tu, and hence Tiwes-dæg or Tuesdæg, Tuesday, the day consecrated to Tiig, the god of war. But it seems this is merely the day of commencing court and trial; litigation day. This Tiig, the god of war, is strife, and this leads us to the root of thing, which is to drive, urge, strive.”

From Noah Webster’s definition of “Tuesday,” we find Tiwæsdæ or Tuesdæy comes from Tig, Tiig or Tuisco, the Mars of our ancestors the deity that presided over combats, strife and litigation. Hence Tuesday is court day, assize* day; the day for combat or commencing litigation.

*Assize (uh-SIGHZ) originally was an assembly of knights and other “substantial” men. It is now considered an enactment made by a legislative assembly.

Based on information from An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York & London; 1970.

Mittwoch

Apparently once the “fourth day” of the German week, Mittwoch, Middle High German Mit[te]woche, and before that it was Mitta-wewha in Late Old High German, which was the church (vulgar) Latin translation of “media Hebdomas.” Old High German Mittawewha has grown together from the adjective mitta (Old High German Mitti), meaning “located in the middle.” The Roman Catholic Church tried to get rid of the memories of the pagan gods and goddesses by deleting formerly used Wuotanestag (Netherlands Woenstag; English Wednesday, and Swedish Onsdag) which were Wodans- (Odins-)dag or tag, but now it simply means “middle-of-the-week” or Mittwoch.

Based on information from Duden Etymologie, Herkunftswörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, edited by Günther Drosdowski and Paul Grebe, Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim, Germany, 1963.

Sonnabend

“Saturday” may either be Samstag or (in some instances) Sonnabend, which means “evening before sun(day).”

Based on an Old English (Anglo-Saxon) formation, brought to Europe from England by St. Boniface (Wynfrid or Wynfrith), ca. 675-754 A.D., during his Christian-missionary efforts to Germany.

Old English sunnan-aefen first meant the evening before Sunday, then it became sonnanaband in Old High German, and later in Middle High German sun(nen) abent. This word later referred to the whole day, not just the evening.

Based on information from Duden Etymologie, Herkunftswörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, edited by Günther Drosdowski and Paul Grebe, Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim, Germany, 1963.

German (Deutsch) months

Januar (January)
Februar (February)
März (March)
April (April)
Mai (May)
Juni (June)
Juli (July)
August (August)
September (September)
Oktober (October)
November (November)
Dezember (December)

Based on information from, Say it in German by Gustave Mathieu and Guy Stern, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1957.

German months

The following is based on information from an old 1665 German calendar:

Jenner (January)
Hornung (February)
Mertz (March)
Aprill (April)
May (May)
Brachmond (June)
Heumond (July)
Augstmond (August)
Herbstmond (September)
Weinmond (October)
Wintermond(November)
Christmond (December)

There was once a time when Germans had additioinal meanings for the months such as:

January, “bare month (the bare, naked month), hard month, winter month, icemonth, wolf month, threshing month, month of calves, and Great Horn.”

February, “last winter month, wood month fox month, [and] Little Horn.”

March, “(first) ploughing month, drying month, spring month, sowing month, pruning month, vernal month, [and] spring.”

April, “second ploughing month, spring month, grass month, shepherds’ month, cuckoo month, [and] rough month.”

May, “ass month, month of joy, month of flowers, [and] bean month.”

June, “fallow month, dog month, rose month, [and] pasture month.”

July, “(first) hay month, dog month, hay-harvest, [and] cutting (i.e. of the hay.”

August, “(second) harvest month, cutting month, [and] month of fruit.”

September, “second cutting of oats, (first) autumn month, sowing month, spelt month, barley month, boar month, bean-harvest, first autumn, over-autumn, [and] autumn sowing.”

October, “(first or second) autumn month, first winter month, sowing month, [and] slaughtering month.”

November, “(second or third) autumn month, winter month, leaf month, month of rime, month of winds, month of dirt, hard month, slaughtering month, full month, wolf month, [and] acorn month.”

December, “fourth autumn month, (second) winter month, hard month, slaugh-tering month, month of bacon, wolf month, hare month, [and] second winter.”

There were also some names borrowed from Christian feasts and saints; days, such as (New) Year month and the synonymous kalemænd equals Calends month (January), Fassnachtmænd or Olle Wiwermænd(February), Klibelmænd Conception of the Virgin (March) and Holy Month or Christ Month.

Based on information from 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, professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History in the University of Lund, Sweden, C.W.K. Gleerup, 1920.

Greek (Ellinikí or Eliniké ) days

Kuriakí (Sunday)
Deutéra [second day] (Monday)
Tríti [third day] (Tuesday)
Tetárti [fourth day] (Wednesday)
Pémpti [fifth day] (Thursday)
Paraskeuí [sixth day] (Friday)
Sábbato or Sabbáto (?) (Saturday)

Kuriakí means, “Lord’s day” which is followed by “second, third, fourth, fifth” days. Paraskeuí, meaning, “preparation,” is a biblical term used historically by Greek-church fathers. Sábbato or Sabbáto means the Sabbath, or “to rest” as in “day of rest”.

Based on information from The Week, an Essay on the Origin & Development of the Seven-Day Cycle by Francis H. Colson (pp. 119-120), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1926.

Greek (Ellinikí or Eliniké) months

ianuários (January)
fevruários (February)
mártios (March)
aprílios (April)
máios (May)
iúnios (June)
iúlios (July)
avghustos (August)
septémvrios (September)
októvrios (October)
noémvrios (November)
thekiémvrios (December)

Based on information from the Mediterranean Europe Phrasebook by Tassos Douvartzides, published by Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1992.

Hawaiian days

Reflecting the days in a month or the “moon’s age.”

1. Hilo
2. Hoaka
3. Ku kahi
4. Ku lua
5. Ku kolu
6. Ku pau
7. Ole ku kahi
8. Ole ku lua
9. Ole ku kolu
10. Ole ku pau
11. Huna
12. Mohalu
13. Hua
14. Akua
15. Hoko
16. Mahealani
17. Kulu
18. Laau ku kahi
19. Laau ku lua
20. Laau pau
21. Ole ku kahi
22. Ole ku lua
23. Ole pau
24. Kaloa ku kahi
25. Kaloa ku lua
26. Kaloa pau
27. Kane
28. Lono
29. Mauli
30. Muku

Based on information from The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary by Edward Tregear, Anthropological Publications, Oosterhout, The Netherlands, 1969.

French is the official language. Of the two hundred-odd local languages and dialects, the major one is Lingala, spoken primarily in Kin-shasa and along the rivers. You¹ll hear more Kikongo west of Kinshasa, Tshiluba in the south and central area, Kiswahili (Swahili) in the east and north-east including Goma and Bukavu and, to a lesser extent, Nandé in the area north of Goma.

Based on information from‹

Central Africaa travel survival kit, 2nd ed. by Alex Newton, Lonely Planet Publications, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia, 1994.

Zaïre is the former Congo (kinshasa) and the erlier Congo (Leopoldville) to distinguish it from Congo (Brazzaville). Formal independence from the Belgians on June 30, 1960.

Official language French; four lingua francas officially recognized (Bantu prefixes used in Zaïre are included): kiKongo, tshiLuba, kiSwahili (local dialect kiNgwana), and liNgala (also the language used in the army). A fifth Bantu language, lo Mongo, is also spoken. The four official languages were used in spoken and printed form by the Belgian authorities and, with loMongo, by missionaries during the colonial period. Many individuals are bilingual and trilingualism is not uncommon.

One branch of Benue-Congo, Bantu, comprises by far the majority of languages of Zaïre. Languages included in Adamawa-Eastern and Central and Eastern Sudanic are to be found only in the northernmost portion of the country. Since at least the beginning of the second millennium A.D. Bantu languages have been spoken by most of the peoples living south of the equator and by substantial numbers north of it.

Swahili entered Zaïre in the latter half of the nineteenth century, carried on the one hand by slave traders deriving ultimately from the eastern coast of Africa and on the other hand by hunters from central Tanzania. Other movements of population contributed to the use of Swahili in eastern Zaïre, particularly in the copperbelt towns of Katanga. But the heterogeneity of the population in these towns led to the use of a Swahili lexically different from the Swahili of East Africa and to certain changes in sound patterns from those of standard Swahili.

A trade language called Ngala came to be used in the army not only as a means of communication among the ethnically diverse rank and file but also as a command language between the Belgian officer corps and the enlisted force. In one form or another the language was thus spread by the army and by its veterans. In addition, people migrating to Leopoldville from the area where Ngala originated used it in the city.

Numbers of Zaïrians, particularly, but not exclusively in urban areas, are bilingual or trilingual. One of the two or three langguages spoken (not necessarily fluently) may be French. Another may be one of the official lingua francas, and the third is, of course, his/her mother tongue. In some cases an ethnically based lingua franca may give way in specific contexts to another. Thus, despite the large number of Luba-speaking migrants to the copper towns, Luba did not displace the already well entrenched Swahili.

Although neither Swahili nor Ngala was the language of a traditional Zaïrian community or ethnic group, both have gradually come to be the first languages of the children of urban interethnic marriages. Research among secondary- school matriculants in Kisangani once indicated that a substantial proportion of them spoke either Ngala or Swahili as a mother tongue.

Based on information from‹

Zaïre, a country study , Foreign Area Studies, by H.M. Roth and others, The American University, Washington, D.C., 1979.

Zulu days

i (li) sonto (Sunday)
umsombuluko (Monday)
ulwesibili (Tuesday)
ulwesithathu (Wednesday)
ulwesine (Thursday)
olwesihlanu (Friday)
umgqibelo (Saturday)

Zulu months

(January)
uNdasa (February)
(March)
u-Ephuleli (April)
(May)
(June)
(July)
u-Agosi (August)
u-Sebnthemba (September)
(October)
(November)
umasingana (December)

The purest Zulu is spoken in Central and Southern Zululand; in Northern Zululand, the Tonga influence is apparent. Zulu is spoken by about eight million people and is one of the major Bantu languages of South Africa.

Zulu is closely related to Xhosa and Swazi, the three belonging to the Nguni branch of the Bantu family.

Based on information from‹

Zulu-English Dictionary compiled by C.M. Doke & B.W. Vilakazi, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1958.
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Taking the path of least persistence is the most direct route to failure.

-Rayoa

A click on the button will bring the connections link to you.

Decembris 26	Decembris 27	Decembris 28	Decembris 29
Decembris 30	Decembris 31	Januarius 1	Januarius 2
Januarius 3	Januarius 4	Januarius 5	Januarius 6
Januarius 7	Januarius 8	Januarius 9	Januarius 10
Januarius 11	Januarius 12	Januarius 13	Januarius 14
Januarius 15	Januarius 16	Januarius 17	Januarius 18
Januarius 19	Januarius 20	Januarius 21	Januarius 22
Januarius 23	Januarius 24	Januarius 25	Januarius 26
Januarius 27	Januarius 28	Januarius 29	Januarius 30
Januarius 31	Februarius 01	Februarius 02	Februarius 03

The moon’s phases depend on what fraction of its sunlit hemisphere can be seen from earth. As the moon orbits earth, it “grows in size” from new moon, to waxing crescent, first quarter (one-fourth of a completed revolution around the earth), waxing gibbous, to full moon. It then decreases in reverse order to waning gibbous, third (or last) quarter (three-quarters of a completed revolution around the earth), waning crescent, and back to the new moon (completing the full revolution around the earth).

The same side of the moon always faces the earth because the moon rotates on its axis in the same period that it revolves around the earth. The moon takes 27.3 days to complete one revolution around the earth with respect to the stars (sidereal month, 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.5 seconds), but the synodical month takes 29.5 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds) with respect to the sun because of the earth’s simultaneous motion around the sun.

The importance of the moon for Islam

€ Islam lives by the cycles of the moon. The crescent, the sign of the new (waxing) moon, appears on the flag of Muslim nations.

€ This is a conspicuous exception to the Muslim ban on representing natural objects in pictures or idols.

€ There are those who believe that the adoption and survival of this sign of Islam is based on the dominance of the new moon and is not only a signal of the beginning and end of the month-long Muslim season of fasting, but is the regular climax for the whole calendar.

€ The Muslim world has tried to live by the moon.

€ Just as Caesar had decisively com- mitted his world to the convenience of the solar year, with the months serving as indices of the seasons, so Muhammad com-mitted his everyday world to the cycles of the moon.

€ Such lunar cycles guide the faithful to the divinely ordained dates for their prime religious duties‹the pilgrimage to Mecca and the Ramadan month of fasting.

€ Because the Muslim calendar con- tains only 354 or 355 days, the months are not synchronized with the “seasons.”

€ The Muslim’s literal submission to the moon cycle has had some interesting results. To live by the God-given visible phases of the moon (and not by some man-made calculation of when the new moon is expected) has meant that the celebration of a festival must await the actual sight of the moon.

€ Ramadan, the ninth month‹the month of fasting, the observance which marks the true Muslim‹and Djh’l-Hijja, the twelfth month, during the first two weeks of which the faithful are to make their pilgrimage to Mecca, may occur in summer or in winter. In each year the festival of Ramadan and the Pilgrimage occur ten or eleven days earlier than in the previous year.

€ Muhammad said, “Do not fast until you see the new moon, and do not break the fast until you see it; but when it is hidden from you give it its full measure.” If clouds or mist prevent the new moon from being seen in certain villages, those villages will observe the beginning and the end of Ramadan at different times from each other. Lunar Eclipses

An eclipse is the complete, or partial, reduction of the visibility of a celestial body by the passage of a second celestial body and the word comes from the Greek ekleipsis, “forsaking.”

€ Primitive people were (and are?) greatly disturbed by the darkness of a total solar eclipse or by the strange sight of the eclipsed moon; and even animals are reported to be disturbed or frightened.

€ Accounts of such eclipses are found among the oldest records of history. Battles have been decided by their unexpected appearance and the successful prediction of eclipses constitutes one of the earliest triumphs of this scientific investigation of nature.

€ An eclipse of the moon takes place when the shadow of the earth is directed away from the sun, so a lunar eclipse can only occur at the time of the full moon, that is, when the position of the moon is opposite to that of the sun.

€ The moon’s surface is never completely darkened by an eclipse; even at the middle of totality it is visible, with a peculiar dull ruddy hue as sunlight passes through the earth’s atmosphere. Lunar Eclipses as Omens

€ Many societies have shown similar fears of lunar eclipses, including Indians, Mayans, the central Africans, ancient Greeks, and Chinese.

€ In fact, eclipse terror has been reported on a universal basis so it must come from deep seated experiences in history.

€ Lunar eclipses have also been associ-ated with the deaths of kings‹including Herod the Great, Caesar Augustus, Jesus Christ, and Henry I of England‹as well as with plagues and earth-quakes.

€ Eclipse phobia probably results from the terrors related to the disruption of the universe’s natural order.

€ “The eternal cycle of the heavens is a comforting constant, while a lunar eclipse represents broken harmony or the displea-sure of a god.” (Bradley E. Schaefer, astro-physicist )

€ The mystique of eclipses loses its fears for those who can predict them, because the event is seen as a natural and anticipated cycle. Occulations (covering) of Stars or Planets by the Moon

€ The moon is observed from the earth projected onto a background of distant stars.

€ As the moon moves eastward across the constellations, it occasionally passes in front of one of the brighter stars or a planet, causing an occultation.

€ At the moment when the eastern limb of the moon reaches a star, the latter sud-denly disappears (immersion).

€ In about an hour or less, the moon will have passed over the star (or planet) and the latter will reappear at the western limb (emersion).

€ Between the new moon and the full moon, the immersion takes place at the invisible (or faintly visible) dark limb; the emersion takes place at the bright limb.

€ The suddenness with which a star dis-appears and reappears without fading or flic-kering is considered conclusive proof that the moon has no significant atmosphere. W Eclipses in History

“Nothing there is beyond hope, nothing that can be sworn impossible, nothing wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians, made night from midday, hiding the light of the shining sun, and sore fear came upon men.” Archilochus from a fragment of a poem when there was a total eclipse of the sun on April 6, 648 B.C.

“Beam of the sun! O thou that seest afar, what wilt thou be devising? O mother of mine eyes! O star supreme, reft from us in the daytime! Why hast thou perplexed the power of man and the way of wisdom, by rushing forth on a darksome track?”

Pindar writing to the Thebans, probably referring to the solar eclipse of April 30, 463 B.C., which was nearly total at Thebes Ancient Astronomical Eclipses

€ At least from the time of King Nabonas-sar (747 B.C.) there was a dated canon of astronomical observations which were pre-served at Babylon, including a record of eclipses.

€ Such a document made it possible to accurately determine the intervals between eclipses and must have made it possible to discover the l8 years’ cycle (more exactly the cycle of 6,585N days, which the 10th-century Greek lexicographer Suidas calls the saros) and its multiple, the 54 year’s cycle of 19,756 days.

€ These two cycles govern the recur-rence of eclipses.

€ Tables based on the saros go back to the 4th century B.C.

€ Eclipses of the moon give more accurately the actual time when the sun and the moon are in opposition than any other kind of observation. A Lunar Eclipse at the Siege of Syracuse

During the struggle between Athens and Sparta (or the Athenian Empire versus the Peloponnesian League) to gain greater power and commercial dominance, open fighting erupted in 431 B.C. and expanded into the Peloponnesian War.

In 415 B.C., ten years after The Peace of Nicias was arranged, Athens mounted an expedition to capture and plunder Syra-cuse, a colony of the Peloponnesian League on the east coast of Sicily. After reinforce-ments from Sparta strengthened the defenders, it became apparent that Athens couldn’t win. A retreat was the only choice.

Then just before the army’s departure, in 413 B.C., a lunar eclipse occurred. Nicias, the leader of the Athens’ forces, saw it as a bad omen and was paralyzed by fear. He delayed his withdrawal for a lunar month to avoid what he considered a very bad sign from the gods. Syracuse used the delay in withdrawal to destroy the Athenian fleet. The Athenian army tried to escape by land, but all were killed or enslaved. The dis-aster at Syracuse resulted in a loss of 200 ships and 29,000 Athenian soldiers.

So it was that the Athenian fear of the eclipse resulted in an unconditional surren-der to the league in 406 B.C.

Plutarch, a Greek biographer, wrote that the cause of solar eclipses was under-stood by the time of the Peloponnesian War, but that lunar eclipses were still mysterious to most Greeks. It was the fear of the unknown and unexplained which cost Athens the war.

A later lunar eclipse failed to deter an attack against the tyrant of Syracuse, because by then the cause such eclipses was widely known. Eclipses in Ancient Rome

Students of astronomy and also of the Roman calendar have been interested in something Cicero wrote about which he said occurred in a.u.c. 350 (404 B.C.). He says it was described by the poet Ennius: “On the Nones of June the sun was cover-ed by the moon and night.” This appears to have been the solar eclipse of June 21, 400 B.C., which reached a total, or almost total, phase at Rome a few minutes after sunset. The information seems to show that in that year the calendar month of June began 16 days later than it did after the Julian reform.

On June 21-22, 168 B.C., there was an eclipse of the moon which attracted considerable attention. At the time, the Romans were at war with Macedonia, and Polybius said that this eclipse was interpreted as an omen of the eclipse of a king and therefore encouraged the Romans and discouraged the Macedonians. A Lunar Eclipse that Contributed to the Fall of Constantinople

The Roman emperor Constantine moved the capital of his realm, in A.D. 324, to the ancient city of Byzantium, which he re-named Constantinople. For more than a thousand years, the Byzantines ruled the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and provided a strong government and a continuation of the Roman Empire despite its collapse in all of the other parts of the world. By the fifteenth century, the empire was weakened by civil wars, attacks by Cru-saders, excessive taxation, and the Black Plague.

Turkish sieges of Constantinople in 1402 and 1422 made no significant progress against the awesome walls of the city, but when a young sultan, Mohammed II, took over the Turkish throne in 1451, he make preparations for a fresh assault on Constan-tinople.

His new resolve was based on the acqui-sition of a new cannon which was developed by a Hungarian engineer whose design was rejected by Constantinople because of it was short of funds to pay for it. This abnormally large weapon was 27 feet (8.24 meters) long, shot stones weighing 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms), so even the thickest walls could be broken if pounded enough. Sultan Mo-hammed also had an army of 250,000 men, compared to an estimated 7,000 soldiers in the city.

In April, 1453, the Turkish army laid siege and blasted the city walls with his 1300 pound boulders. Despite such heavy stoning, the defenders were able to repair the damage to their walls every night. The also repulsed three major assaults. With time, regardless of their heroic defensive efforts, the small number of Constantino-polian defenders were worn out by wall repairs and repeated attacks.

At this time, the fighting morale of the defenders was of major importance. Their fighting spirit was maintained by an old prophecy that Constantinople could never fall while the moon was waxing. Then on May 22, the full moon rose in eclipse, crushing their morale. Some reports say the eclipse darkness lasted for three hours; however, this is considered impossible because the partial phase ended 75 minutes after moonrise.

Mohammed began his final assault six days later while the moon was waning gibbous. The rapidity with which the defense collapsed demonstrated the defeatist atti-tude which was brought about in part by the lunar eclipse. The sack and destruction of Constantinople lasted for three days. Just as the conflict at Syracuse, the side that saw the eclipse as a bad omen lost the battle. Lawrence of Arabia Defeated the Turks at Aqaba with an Advantage Offered by a Lunar Eclipse

The Ottoman Empire was an ally of Germany in World War I and as such it was, therefore, a threat to British and French interests in the East. The British attacked the Turks with amphibious landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula near Istanbul and with invasions overland through the Sinai Desert.

In addition to the military attacks by the British, there was also an Arab Revolt, in which the tribes of what is now Saudi Arabia rose up against Turkish domination. Both the British and French sent assistance to the rebels in the form of money and advisers, such as Thomas Edward Lawrence. Better known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” he strongly urged guerrilla war-fare as the best means for the small, irregular Arab forces to defeat the large Turkish forces. His greatest success was an assault on Aqaba, a small port on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula. His daring and very dangerous plan was to lead just 50 Bedouin warriors against strong Turkish fortifica-tions from the landward side of the port.

After getting by many Turkish patrols and traveling through the worst desert ter-rain at the peak of summer heat, Lawrence and his small force neared Aqaba and recruited additional local Arab fighters.

Lawrence knew in advance that there would be an eclipse of the moon on the night he planned to attack one of the well-fortified positions at night. When the eclipse came, his Arab warriors took the post with-out any loss because the Turkish defenders were busy firing rifles and clanging copper pots in efforts to rescue the loss of the moon. With his victories over two of the main points of defense, Aqaba collapsed without a fight. Since the British had this important port in their possession, the Ottoman flank was turned back and Jerusalem and Damascus were soon in control of the Allies.

The making of loud noises during eclip-ses was practiced by many cultures, pro-bably as the remnants of a tradition which was meant to scare away whatever was “eating the moon.”

The Turkish soldiers had other grounds for worry, because an Islamic prophecy declares that the Day of Judgment will be preceded by a lunar and solar eclipse in the month of Ramadan, which is when Law-rence’s eclipse occurred. General Charles G. Gordon, a.k.a. “Chinese” Gordon Suffered His only Defeat in China because of a Lunar Eclipse

The Chinese believed that each emperor was allowed to rule the world by divine gift only as long as he remained virtuous. When he strayed to vice or tyranny, the wrath of heaven would be displayed for all to see by signs in the sky. So it was, that in a society governed by such beliefs, any un-usual astronomical event such as eclipses had serious political consequences.

The Ch’ing (Manchu) dynasty, which started in 1644, achieved great splendor in its earlier years, but by the mid-19th cen-tury it became ineffective and corrupt. In 1815, the Taiping Rebellion took place and the Western powers, headed by British and American officers and their mercenaries, supported the struggling dynasty of the Manchus. Western support was given partly because of trade concessions granted to Western businesses by the emperor.

The major assistance to the Manchus came from an army of mercenaries who were equipped with modern weapons and headed by American and British officers. The last leader of the “Ever Victorious” army was Charles “Chinese” Gordon whose military genius and leadership won a string of victories against rebel strong points near the key city of Soochow.

After previous victories over the rebels, the last stockade was to be assaulted at night with the help of the light from a full moon. As they proceeded, there came a deep partial eclipse just before the attack. Since it took place in twilight, it had no adverse effect on visibility; however,the superstitious Chinese soldiers took the event to be an evil omen concerning their emperor and so with Gordon’s army mentally defeated before the attack even started, they failed with high casualties.

The stockade was their only loss under the leadership of Gordon, and it was de-feated later. The rebels surrendered and the emperor remained in power.

Partly because of another eclipse, Gor-don met his end. In 1884-45, he led the defense of the Sudanese capital of Khar-toum against an attack by another reli-gious leader, the Mahdi. This time a solar eclipse so upset Gordon’s native forces, that the city fell before a British relief expedition could arrive. “Chinese” Gordon was among those slaughtered. Christopher Columbus Survived by Using a Lunar Eclipse Trick

As Columbus explored Central America’s coast on his fourth voyage, he found himself in a desperate situation. The wooden planks in the ships were riddled by shipworms and they were leaking badly. With half of his crew mutinying, and with nothing to trade for food with the natives, he was stranded on the northern shore of Jamaica.

In February, 1504, Columbus had been stranded for more than six months and food was running short. Ferdinand Columbus, son and author of Historie (a biography of his father), tells us what happened next:

“The admiral remembered that in three days’ time, at the beginning of the night, there would be an eclipse of the MoonŠ.As for the Indians, he told them that God had seen how they had neglected to bring us food for which we paid by barter. God was very angry with them and had determined to punish them with a great famine and pestilence. Perhaps they did not believe this. God wished to demonstrate with a manifest sign in the heavens, that they would clearly know that the punishment was coming from His own hand. Therefore on that night they should watch carefully the rising of the Moon. They would see her appear inflamed with wrath, denoting the evils God would inflict upon them. After this conversation was finished, the Indians departed, some frightened and others believing that these were just hollow threats.”

But the eclipse commenced at the rising of the Moon, and the higher it rose the more the eclipse increased. The Indians observed this and were so astonished and frightened that with great cries and lamentations they came running from all directions to the ships, carrying provisions and begging the Admiral to ask God that He might not visit His wrath upon them, and promising they would diligently supply all their needs in the future.”

The Admiral answered that he wished to speak for a little while with his God; he retired to his cabin while the eclipse increased, and the Indians continued to cry for his assistance. When the Admiral saw that the eclipse had reached maximum and that it soon would diminish, he came out of his cabin, sayingŠGod had now for-given them and as a sign they would see the anger and inflammation of the Moon pass awayŠ. From that time forward they were careful in providing us with all that we needed.”

Astronomers now know that the “inflam-mation of the Moon” as a dull red or copper color which is usually seen during totality is a result of the earth’s atmosphere.

Columbus timed the eclipse with a sandglass which was turned every half hour because the clocks in 1504 were not very reliable. Calculating the longitude of his position in the “New World,” he later wrote in his Libro de las profecias:”

“On Thursday, February 29, 1504, when I was in the Indies on the island of Jamaica in the port which is called Santa Gloria, which is almost in the middle of the island, in the northern part, there was an eclipse of the Moon, and because the beginning was before the Sun set, I was able to note only the end, when the Moon had just returned to its brightness, and this was most surely after two and one-half hours of the night had passed by, five sandglasses most certainly.”

Three days before an eclipse, which he knew was scheduled, he told native chiefs that the Christian god was angry with them for not supplying food and would give a clear sign in the heavens. Europeans of that era understood eclipses and weren’t afraid, but the Jamaicans had strong superstitions about them.

The clear sky during the night of the eclipse displayed an inflamed and “angry” moon, and the terrified indians rushed up with food offerings. They kept Columbus well supplied with whatever they could provide until a relief ship arrived.

It seems that Christopher Columbus used his knowledge of lunar eclipses for both scientific and not-so-scientific pur-poses. W The Ecliptic

€ In astronomy, the ecliptic is literally the line of the eclipses, “the great circle on the celestial sphere” which forms the apparent path of the sun in the course of a year.

€ The twelve constellations or signs of the zodiac are arranged along the ecliptic. The plane of the ecliptic is the plane of the earth’s orbit, or more strictly the plane in which the combined center of gravity of the earth and the moon revolves around the sun; it meets the celestial sphere in the great circle which forms the apparent path of the sun in the course of the year. W The Moon, an Important Symbol

€ The moon is considered the most important symbol in the heavens next to the sun.

€ The moon has been thought of as “female,”primarily because of its passivity as the receiver of the sun’s light, but also because of the similarity of the lunar month and the menstrual cycle.

€ The waxing and waning of the moon and its regular return of the same lunar form, make a striking symbol for all philosophies combining death and rebirth.

€ Sometimes the moon is considered, and is personified as masculine (as in German: der Mond, from the Germanic Mani, whose sister is Sol, or in a Southern variant Sunna, the sun; or, in English, the man in the moon).

€ For most languages and cultures the moon is feminine, e.g., the Latin Luna, the Greek Selene or Artemis, the East Asian Kuan-yin or Kwannon, or the Mayan Ixchel.

€ There has “always” been a belief that the phases of the moon influenced events on earth; not only the ebb and flow of the tides but also the rising and falling of sap in plants; haircuts and blood-letting were sche-duled with reference to the lunar cycle.

€ “Moon-herbs” (plants which bloom at night) were prescribed for gynecological dis-orders.

€ Christian iconography shows the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is often likened to the moon or portrayed as standing or enthroned on a lunar crescent, which in Austria was readily seen as a symbol for their victory over the Turks (whose military emblem was the half-moon), but the reference goes back to Revelation 12:1 (in the New Testament of the Bible): “A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,” which symbolized victory over hostile forces.

€ In the Jewish world, the moon is linked not only with the nocturnal or the other worldly but also, as in other traditions, with femineity (an association suggested by the temporal similarity of the lunar and mens-trual cycles) and fertility (in multiple senses).

€ Women and domesticated animals wore moon-like necklaces.

€ The Greek apologist Theophilus of Antioch (second century after Christ) saw the sun and the moon as dualistic symbols, “images bearing a great mystery: for the sun is the symbol of God; the moon, of humanity,” whose light is a reflection of God’s.

€ Origen (A.D. 184-254) interpreted the moon as a symbol of the Roman Church, which receives illumination and then transmits it to all believers.

€ Every month, moreover, the moon is “reborn” which is a symbol for the Resur-rection.

€ In astrology the moon is still considered a planet, as in the geocentric system of the ancient world; the moon and the sun together are the “principal lights” of the astrologer’s universe.

€ The moon is the closest heavenly body to the earth, always showing the same face, a face whose lines and shadows are the stuff of legend.

€ Modern astrologers view the moon as influencing a woman’s superficial personality, but a man’s deeper being, his soul.

€ In ancient Rome the moon was spoken of as a liar, luna mendax, in part because its form resembled a “C” when is was waning and a “D” when it was waxing.

€ Because of their traditional symbolic associations, mother-of pearl, opal, pearls, and selenite were spoken of as “moon-stones.”

€ In iconography the moon is usually portrayed as a crescent, its profile turned to the left.

€ Lunar crescents appear in the coats of arms of many Islamic countries.

€ Speaking of lunar images in heraldry, the hundred senators of Romulus wore a C-shaped half-moon on their shoes as an indication “that they trampled under foot as vain and worldly everything under the moon,” or simply to distinguish themselves as senators.

€ Noblemen whose arms included the moon, which meant “growth” or “prosperity,” apparently took this symbol from the Turks long ago (1688?).

€ In the Basque language, the words for “deity” and “moon” were the same.

€ Sioux Indians called the moon “The Old Woman Who Never Dies.”

€ Ancient rulers of the Tutsi tribe were named Mwezi, “Moon.”

€ The Gaelic name of the moon, gealach, came from Gala or Galata, original Moon-mother of Gaelic and Gaulish tribes.

€ The Moon-goddess created time, with all its cycles of creation, growth, decline, and destruction, which is why ancient calendars were based on phases of the moon and mens-trual cycles.

€ Greeks often located the Elysian Fields, home of the blessed dead, in the moon.

€ The shoes of Roman senators were deco-rated with ivory lunules (crescents) to show that after death they would inhabit the moon.

€ Some superstitious people refused to sleep where moonlight might touch them. According to Roger Bacon, “many have died from not protecting themselves from the rays of the moon”

€ Believers in prophetic dreams said if a man dreamed of his own image in the moon, he would have a son; if a woman dreamed of her own image in the moon, she would give birth to a daughter.

€ At one time, Scottish girls refused to schedule a wedding day for any time other than the full moon, the “most fortunate time” for women.

€ In Gaul, the crescent moon stood for the druidic Diana.

€ Crescere meant “to grow, a form of Latin creare, to produce, to create‹hence the cres-cent.

€ Since crescent means “to grow” or “in-crease,” it would be safe to say that the term “waning crescent” is an obvious oxymoron.

€ Gauls made communion cakes in the form of a crescent. Modern France still makes them, and calls them croissants, “crescents,” also known as “moon teeth.”

€ One old almanac is quoted as saying, “Kill fat swine for bacon about the full moonŠ. Shear sheep at the moon’s increase: fell hand timber from the full moonŠ.; horses and mares must be put together in the increase of the moon, for foals got in the wane are not accounted strongŠ; fruit should be gathered, and cattle gelded, in the wane of the moon.”

€ In a March 13, 1995, the Associated Press wrote about a professed “witch” who had three foster children removed from her home because of her religious beliefs. Members of “Our Lady of the Roses Wiccan Church in East Provi-dence, RI Š meet during the new moon, the full moon and on eight Œsabbats’ a year.” There was also a statement that, “Witches are contemporary followers of a pre-Christian religion that flourished in Europe before being driven underground.”

€ In another Associated Press/Cox News Service article on March 11, 1995, there was an article about the temperature contributions made by the full and new phases of the moon, based on information gathered by “Earth-orbiting satellites,” according to two Arizona State University climatologists.

€ “The warmest day of every month occurs when the moon is full. The difference appears to be caused by the subtle warming effect on the Earth’s atmosphere by the sunlight and heat reflected from the lunar surface.”

€ The full moon is said to reflect heat of 200 degrees Fahrenheit across 220,000 miles with an increase over the “entire globe Š to about two-hundredths of a degree.”

€ The coldest day occurs during the new moon. The climatologists say the temperature changes are not significant to over heat or to chill anyone, but such temperature influences are “statistically significant.”

The Calendar, a Series of Religious Announcements

€ The Latin word for “holidays” (holy days) was fasti. It has come to mean the cal-endar as a whole.

€ The calendar was divided into dies fasti and dies nefasti, and it was published by being attached to the walls of various build-ings, including the Regia and the rostra.

€ It told the Romans which days of the year they could use for business, which days were available for meetings of the Comitia, which days were holidays, which days were ill-omened, and where the movable feasts were going to fall.

€ With the year set at 355 days, the calendar was rarely synchronized with the seasons‹except when the College of Pontifices took its duties seriously, and intercalated an extra twenty days every two years, after the month of February.

€ Normally the college didn’t bother to make any changes, since Romans found it hard to see any reason for doing it.

€ The days in each month were not calculated as we do now as with a simple consecutive counting-off of March 1, March 2, etc. The days were counted backward from one to three points which were marked on the calendar: the Calends (Kalends), the Nones, and the Ides.

€ Thus, instead of March 3, a Roman would say “four days before the Nones of March,” and instead of March 28, he would say “four days before the Kalends of April.” To us it may seem to be very confusing; however, it apparently was a simple matter for the Romans ‹ after all, they used this system for several centuries. See the simulated Roman calendars which go with the months in the later pages of this book.

€ Historically, the Romans calculated their dates with reference to days called the Calends, the Nones, and the Ides‹the Calends were always the first day of the month, giving us our word “calendar”; the Nones and the Ides fell on the fifth and thirteenth days respectively in all months except March, May, July, and October when they occurred on the seventh and the fifteenth of those months.

€ Originally, the Ides were considered the “dividers” which split the old thirty-day month in half.

€ The Ides are supposed to take place sixteen days before the last day of the month, because half of thirty was sixteen, not fifteen, on the duodecimal system which the Romans used in computing fractions.

€ Perhaps the Ides became promi- nent because they were sometimes con-current with the days of the full moon; they were sacred to Jupiter.

€ The Nones were the “ninth-days” before, and including, the Ides, sometimes marking the days of the moon’s first quarter.

€ The Calends or “callings” of the Nones as either the fifth or seventh days of the months sometimes coincided with the days of the visible new moon.

€ The “calling” was made by a pontiff who addressed Juno Covella either five or seven times to date the Nones as the fifth or the seventh day for each particular month.

€ As a result of speaking to Juno Co-vella on every Kalends, all Kalends were sacred to Juno.

€ On the Nones, the rex sacrorum an-nounced the festivals or feriae for the month; this explains why almost all sacra publica occur after the Nones of a month.

€ Pridie means the “day before.” So Pridie Calends means the “day before the Calends.”

€ The seven-day planetary week was not common in Rome, or the West, until about the third century A.D., although it ap-pears to have existed alongside the Roman eight-day week in a Sabine calendar of the first century A.D.

€ The week with its planetary days apparently had its origins in the Eastern Mediterranean where the Hebrew Sabbath-week, Babylonian astrology, and Egyptian astronomy combined to “verify” it.

€ The nature of the planets was first proposed in Mesopotamia where a fervent interest in the “heavenly bodies” resulted in astrology.

€ The Mesopotamians considered the seven planets or “travellers” to include the sun and moon.

€ The earth was not considered a part of the planetary system because it was thought to be the stationary center of a geocentric universe.

€ Using their Latin names, the planets, in their historically perceived relative dis-tances from the earth were Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

€ In Egypt, when the planetary sys-tem became the standard for determining the twenty-four hour, seven-day week, they assigned Saturn to the first hour of the first day, Jupiter to the second hour, Mars to the third hour, Sol to the fourth hour, Venus to the fifth hour, etc.

€ Sol became the first hour of the second day, Luna was the first hour of the third day, Martis was the first hour of the fourth day, Mercurii was the first hour of the fifth day, Jovis was the first hour of the sixth day, and Venus was the first hour of the seventh day until each “planet” was associated with that day of which it marked the first hour.

€ In the foregoing sequence, those seven celestial bodies are still used to name the seven days of the week, with minor exceptions, especially with those countries which use a Latin-based language; such as: French, Spanish, Italian, Rumanian, Cata-lonian (in Spain), and Esperanto (an inter-national-non national language).

€ Our week now begins with Sunday and ends with Saturday, because the Hebrews put “the day of rest” at the end of the week and the habit has been part of our calendar at least since the early days of Christianity. W A few of the more interesting Roman days of worship, festivals, and special events

€ Calends (January 1). The Calends (or Kalends, Kalendae). The Calends is always the name of the first day of each month.

€ Aesculapio: Latin, Aesculapius (Esculapius) or Greek, Asclepius, a Greek god of medicine, was worshiped on this day. His temple was established in a.u.c. 463 (291 B.C.) on Tiber Island to teach medicine in Rome. The cult apparently was esta- blished to keep a plague away from Rome. A hospital, St. Bartolomeo, is now located on the island thus continuing the healing arts established so many years ago.

€ Juno is the deity for the first day of each month representing the day of the new moon

€ Cicero was born on this day in a.u.c. 647 (106 B.C.) at Arpinum which was also the birthplace of Marius, one of Rome’s popular leaders. Cicero was a lawyer, states-man, philosopher, and humanist. He was famous for his learning and his rhetoric and he was an important defender of Republican ideals and in the transmission of Greek ideas. He never hesitated to attack Verres, Catiline, and Mark Antony. In a.u.c. 711 (43 B.C.) he was executed by Antony’s soldiers.

€ Pridie Nones (January 4). Julius Caesar chased Pompey into Greece, a.u.c. 706 (48 B.C.). Pridie means the “day before.”

€ VII days to Ides (January 7). Iano (Jano) patri circenses: Circus games took place in honor of Father Janus (also see January 11). To start the races, a consul threw out a mappa or napkin (a tradition apparently started by the Tarquins).

€ V days to Ides (January 9). Agonalia: The rex sacrorum sacrificed a ram to Janus. Little more is known about this ancient rite.

€ III days to Ides (January 11). Car- mentalia: The worship of Carmenta or Car-mentis, known as the mother of Evander who was given credit for founding a Greek city on the site of Rome long before Rome itself was established. Only women were permitted to enter her temple at the Porta Carmentalis, and nothing made of leather was permitted to be brought into her shrine. There was a flamen Carmentalis, which indicates that these rites were very ancient.

€ Iuturnalia (Juturnalia): Juturna was a deity of a spring in Latium and of a pool in the Forum. She was worshiped by everyone who used water in his/her work. The Dioscuri are said to have appeared at her pool after the battle of Lake Regillus in a.u.c. 257 (497 B.C.) which seems to make their association with Juturna to be of an ancient date.

€ Temple of Janus: Octavian closed the gates of the temple of Janus in a.u.c. 725 (29 B.C.), which indicated the restoration of peace after the battle of Actium. The temple had been closed twice before, once by Numa and once after the first Punic war in a.u.c. 519 (235 B.C.). The shrine of Janus was a free-standing double arch or ianus geminus in the Forum, probably through which the Roman armies left for battle. Janus has been associated with Dianus, a male counter part of Diana, so he might have been a sky-god like Jupiter; or as the numen of doors, ianuae, gates, or bridges, and therefore, as a god of entrances and beginnings. His priest was the rex sacrorum. Janus was mentioned before Jupiter in religious prayers.

€ Ides (January 13). Augustus said his new Principate was a restoration of the Roman Republic, and for this “restoration” he was awarded an oak crown by the Senate.

€ XIX days to Calends (January 14). Mark Antony was born today in a.u.c. 672 (82 B.C.). From the time of Augustus to the the time of Claudius, Antony’s birthday was held vitiosus (full of corruption).

€ Nero Claudius Drusus was born to Livia at about the time she was married to Augustus in a.u.c. 716 (38 B.C.). He and his descendants had the advantage of being thought to be the son of Augustus and not of Tiberius Claudius Nero, Livia’s former hus-band.

€ XVII days to Calends (January 16). Augustus: The Senate conferred this title on Octavian in a.u.c. 727 (27 B.C.). “Augustus” is a word which is connected with augere (to increase) and indicates an expansion of dig-nity and power.

€ Hadrian was born in a.u.c. 677 (76 A.D.) on this day. He succeeded Trajan on the throne in a.u.c. 870 (117 A.D.) and ruled until his own death in a.u.c. 891 (138 A.D.). He loved Athens which he enhanced with monuments, including a great library; and he was an extensive traveller. His mausoleum in Rome and his large villa at Tibur are outstanding monuments and memorials of a “superior reign.”

€ VI days to Calends (January 27). Castori et Polluci: The creation of the Greek cult of Castor and Pollux, brothers of Helen, was introduced to Rome after the Dioscuri were thought to have aided the Romans against the Latins in the battle of Lake Regil- lus. A temple to the Dioscuri was dedicated in the Forum in a.u.c. 270 (484 B.C.) and restored by Tiberius in a.u.c. 759 (6 A.D.). This day com- memorates the date of either the dedication or the re-dedication of the temple. What remains of this temple is an obvious monument in the Forum today. The Romans called the brothers the Castores and they were thought to be patrons of knights or equites.

€ III days to Calends (January 30). Ara Pacis: Augustus dedicated the great Alter of Peace in a.u.c. 754 (1 B.C.). Having been re- stored, it is regarded as one of the master- pieces of Augustan art.

€ Livia born: As Augustus’ wife, she was helpful in securing the succession for her son, Tiberius. Throughout her long life, she annoyed him so much about all that she had done for him that when she died in a.u.c. 782 (29 A.D.) at more than eighty years old, Tiberius did not acknowledge her death with honors or tributes.

€ Pridie Calends (January 31). Antonia Minor born: As Antony’s and Octavia’s youngest daughter, she married Drusus, Tiberius’ popular brother. As his wife, she became Germanicus’ mother as well as the future emperor, Claudius. She was famous for her beauty and honesty. She died in a.u.c. 791 (38 A.D.), a short time after her monstrous grandson, Caligula, became emperor. W Ceremonies, rituals, and special events in the Roman Calendar for May

€ Calends (May 1), “May Day” ranks as one of the oldest of holidays.

€ Many primitive pre-Christian agri-cultural civilizations expressed their happi-ness and thankfulness to their gods for the arrival of spring and the renewal of nature.

€ The Romans, especially, held a joyous feast in honor of the flower goddess, Flora, and the coming of May.

€ With variations, the ancient Roman celebration became an integral component of Western European tradition, especially in the British Isles, where significant Celtic religious festivals were held on May 1 and its eve.

€ Some scholars say the May Day festivities can be traced to the spring celebrations of India and Egypt, when the renewal of the fertility of nature was commemo-rated.

€ Ancient Greece expressed gratitude to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and vegetation, who once more rejuvenated nature and instilled fruitfulness in the world.

€ May was the traditional month of “wearing of the green” in honor of the Earth Mother’s new garment, and of fornicating in plowed fields to encourage the crops.

€ May was a “honey-moon” of sexual freedom throughout rural Europe up to the 16th century. Marriage bonds were tempo-rarily put aside.

€ The maxim that “only bad women” marry in the month of May probably was a relic of earlier taboos on all marriages dur-ing the month of license or debauchery.

€ May Eve was also said to be the great springtime festival of “witches,” corres-ponding to Halloween at the other end of the year.

€ The May King of medieval romance inherited the customs of Diana’s sacred kings. He won the “queen of a magic wood” (the goddess) by combat with her previous king on the festival of Ascension Day in May.

€ The god’s phallus was planted in the earth’s womb in the guise of the Maypole, which was not originally European but a direct borrowing from India where the Maypole is still “the great lingam” or a stylized phallic symbol of the masculine cosmic principle and of the Hindu god Siva.

€ Young men and maids went into the woods, and few returned home “undefiled,” as an observer said.

€ “The Queen of the May is the legiti-mate representative of the Goddess Flora in the Roman Festival.”

€ May celebrations in 1724 were described as: “There is a May Pole near Horn Castle, Lincolnshire, where probably stood an Hermes (herm, phallic pillar) in Roman times. The boys annually keep up the festival of the Floralia on May Day, making a procession to this hill with May gads (as they were called) in their hands. There is a white willow wand, the bark peeled off, tied round with cowslips, a thyrsus of the Bacchanals. [A thyrsus is defined as a staff surmounted by a pinecones or by a bunch of vine or ivy leaves with a staff surmounted by a pinecone or by a bunch of vine or ivy leaves with grapes or berries that is carried by Bacchus and by satyrs and others engaging in bacchic rites.] At night they have a bonefire, and other merriment, which is really a sacrifice, a religious festival [Hazlitt, p.402].”

€ The Catholic Church was opposed to the May-religious festival. Bishop Eligius of Noyons, France, begged his converts in the seventh century to stop observing the sex-ual rites of May, but without success.

€ A thousand years later the month of May was still given over to “witches.”

€ Church bells in seventeenth-century Treves were rung all night throughout the month of May, to “protect the city from flying witches [Robbins, p. 512].” Caesarean Section

The surgical procedure which some doctors use when a woman is in childbirth. It is used when the delivery of her child can not be done through the normal pelvic process. The abdomen is incised, the loops of the bowel retracted, and the wall of the uterus cut open to disengage the child from within it.

There are some who believe that Gaius Julius Caesar was delivered by this method and that’s why his name is associated with such a procedure. Despite the etymological explanation that Caesar comes from the Latin phrase a caeso matris utere, or “from the mother’s cut womb,” there are those who challenge this concept as an inappropriate application.

It is known that Caesar’s mother, Aure-lia, lived to be seventy years old, and apparently had good health up to the time of her death. Historically, Caesarean sections in antiquity were a deadly experience. When the operation was used, the child was saved sometimes, but the mother inevitably died or was already dead.

“We know” that in antiquity this oper- ation was never performed on the living mother. It took centuries for surgery to develop to the degree of safety as we know it. Even now there is no guarantee that it will be 100% safe, but it was almost certainly guaranteed that no one could survive such a process until about the nineteenth century. W

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