The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1893-01-26
THE CALENDARS.
A History Of the Evolution of the
Solar Year.


planisphere. or celestial globe, one Is
led to associate the noble aud subl me
science of astronomy with shepherd
life. In the pastures of the newly-cre-
ated world the first human beings had
very little society, and all they saw
from day to day was their floeks graz
ing and frisking about them. There
were several signs, however, by means
.ofwhich, if they were only ebservant,
they could have roughly calculated the
flight of time. Thus the departure of
the birds in the autumn and the fall of
the leaves warned them of the approach
of winter, and fixed an epoch recur-
ring with periodic regularity; but in
their wanderfngs in search of new
pastures, the necessity of an unerring
guide became of paramount im-
portance, and naturally the heavenly
bodies came to be adopted as a great
compass of wondrous directing and
date-marking machine, fixing the regu-
lar periodic flow of time. Thus the
heliaeal rising of one certain star her.
aided the advent of the shearing season,
while the appearance of the pleiades in
the east preluded the seedtime; and
thus two dates of the utmost impor-
tance to primitive.and pastoral people
came to be fixed. And as in this sim
'rle astronomy the shepherds traced
the annals of the stars among their
flocks and herds, so in like manner
they traced the history of their focks
among the stars
Thus the course of the sun came to
lie amid sheepfolds and their surround
lngs. At one time of the year the 20
diacal constellation Taurus, the bull,
the lord Of the herd, marked where
"the father of the day" was located.
At another time the ram, the master
OF the fold, served to designate his po-
sition.
Tne lion, the terror of herdsmen, was
also placed i'll the sky, together with
the dreaded scorpion, and besides these
eoncomitants of the life Of shepherd,
he placed likewise above him still dear
er associations, such as the children of
MS household, Gemini; the virgin, Vir-
go; the ear OF corn, Spica Virgins; and
his instruments of husbandry, the plow
and the sickle.
The best possible proof of how far
the stars had entered into the life of
man may be found in the worship of
tne Saoeans of antiquity. who adored
the starry hosts as infinite God. But
TINS epoch. of mystery evidently pre-
ceded the dawn of observation, and the
most important period in connection
with the subject of time-measuring
commenced when men began to turn
tne celestial sphere into mighty rus
TIC habitatlon, modelled on the basis of
thelr own immediate surroundings.
Even the dog, the type of-warc6fnI-
ness, was translated to the heavens.
The bright star Sirius, whose heliacal
rising in the days of ancient Egypt pre-
saged the overfowing of the Nile a
periodic event of the greatest national
Importance. n"'
mus, from the earliest times tho
heavenly bodies in their seasons have
oeen regarded as grand time-measrr-
erS' but long before the stars had been
observed Tor astrological or other mr.
poses the sun and moon, more intimate
y connected with man's existence camo
10 De regarded as time-marking mn
ehines; and it is on the motions of rhese
Two celestial bodies that all ealand.rs
have been based. ''''''s
=. ~ would be reasonably expected that
the sun, which is the great source an1
supporter of life upon the earth snd
the regulator of the seasons wonid ~
generally adopted as a measnrn ~ ~
e, out men We're. also struck bv fbe
constant and regular return of tbo
paases OF the moon, and from this f,ot
were led to use the moon as the 49,
Tor their calendar. WIZ ''Sis
The Mnssulman year is purely lrrs.
Iu consists of the period embraced h..
,h .SeiVe revolutions of the moon aro,,Oa
.ne EARTH or three hundred and se,n u
IT,. ,ss' and and one-third days, The Israel.
'ss lsYes aaonted the solar year. not t