The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-03
RECKONING TIME.
How the Chinese Note the Passage OF tbs
Days, Months and Years

How the Chinese Note the Passage OF the
Days, Months and Years
The Chinese and Babylonian calen-
dars, in fact are identical in structure.
although the underlying principle OF
both is much more clearly set forth in
its Chinese than its Accadian form.
The Chinese calendar IS typical for all
calendars, and introduces US at once 10
the rationale of the most primitive
method of notating time and thought.
In accordance with the viCi5 imagin1-
ton of period in human history when
the creative far outstrips the critical in
stinet, night and day were the parents
of time. The Chinese calendar builds
upon this simple antithesiS to give the
impetus of life to the procession OF
days. The sun and moon, as father
and mother OF time, stand at the
threshold of the year. and impose
the law OF their duality upon the hour,
day, month, year and cycle. This idea
is extended throughout the entire
Chinese timetable, which, by the way,
with the exception of the sixty-year
cycle, is singularly like our own:
THE CHINESE TINE TABLE
Sixty married" or lso single" minutes make
hour.
Twelve married" or "a single" hours make
/ day.
F1fteeni" msrrisd" or so Tor ss) single" days
make month.
Twelve married" or "a single" months
make year.
Sixty married" or 80 single" years make
lcycle.
The year begins with the first new
moon after the sun enters the water
sign Of "Aquarius" and consists of
twelve this of alternately thirty and
twenty-nlne days, with a full moon
falling in the middle of each month.
Formerly the days of the month
were notated in China as in Babylon by
moon stars, fancied to be pods upon the
sacred tree. According to the Tchu
Shu Ri Men, when Emperor Yao had
been on the throne seventy years, a
kind OF plant called hl-koh grew on
each side of the palace stairs. On the
first day OF the month it produced one
pod, and so on every day a pod 10 the
fifteenth, while on the sixteenth one
pod fell off, and so on every day pod
month was q short one Zone of twenty
nine days., one pod shriveled up with
out falling. The growing phase of the
month from the new to the full moon
Is considered the strong" or masculine
half of the month; the waning phase
the weak" or feminine half The dual
ity of the month is a distinction we
have lost, owing to the separation Of
the lunar and solar years in the
modern calendar, although we still
preserve the marriage idea in our day
of twentyfour hours, which, in reality.
consists of two days of twelve hours
each-the day of light and the day of
darkness. Eloquently and accurately,
therefore, does the Bible say: "And the
evening and the morning were the first
day"
The intimate connection which exists
in the Chinese mind between the small
est and the largest fraction Of time is
illustrated by a pathological as well as
by a mathematical process. These same
names, compounded with the two terms
ch'uh and cheng, make the twenty-four
hours; and these again compounded
with ten determinants produce Just |
sixty names land no more for the years !
of the cycle. 1t is significant that as
midnight is feminine, the day begins, /,
as of necessity, with the second or fem /.
mime term of Tsze, the sign or month /
of Aquarius.
The duality of the year IS also sug-
gested to the Chinese by the fact that ,
the twelve stems" or month names !
multiplied by the ten branches or nu- |
merals make a hundred and twenty
years. But these must be married."
therefore, on the theory, essentially
in our midst, that man and wife are
one, they became the sixty years for
which by philology there are provided
just sixty names.
Besides the year extending from the |
beginning OF the first TO the end Of the |
twelfth month. the Chinese-as do the |
Jews-recognize year extending from /
the beginning of the seventh, also last
ing twelvemonth. These two years /
are still recognized by custom-the /
twenty-fourth day Of the sixth month, /
now st. Johns day, and the twenty |
fourth day of the twelfth month, |
Christmas eve, being peculiarly solemn
days Of preparation for the incoming /
year.
These pivots of time-these hinges Of |
the two years-are still conspicuous /
element in the Shinto worship, the old !
est religion Of Japan. Mr.. Ernest 9atow
makes the interesting statement that /
the priests Of Ise purify the people AZ
the two annual festivals Of the sixth |
month and twelfth month These fes-
rivals are called Oharai No Matsuri 1
Pilgrimages are made 70 the shrine Of /
Ise, where wands, or ohHral are pro-
cured by every true believer. On arriv-
ing home these sym bols OF growth are
placed In the kama oama, shelf Of the
gods" Mr.. Satow adds that every SIX
months these wands should be changed
for new ones. but that in practice the
oharai are removed only once year,
perhaps less often--Henry Burden Nc
Dowell. in Harpsr's Magazine
Hot MiIk ~ /. st,mul@nt
No one who, fatigued by overezertion
OF body and mind. has ever experienced
the revfving influence Of tumblsr q
this beverage. heated as hot as II can Be
slipped, viii willingly forego q resort 70
II because OF is being rendered some
what less acceptable 20 the palate. Ths
pronIp.aess with which is cordial In
q -. 81 Il =