Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1909-08-05
HISTORICAL CIRCULAR.
published by Request.)

published by Request)
''And God said, Let there be lights
in the armament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and
ct them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days and years: And God
made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night: He made
the stars also. GENESIS 1, Ia, Is.
"The Hindus have solar year, and
hey have lso lunar year. Their
solar year, or rather sidereal year, is
measured by the time in which the
sun returns to the same star, and is
consequently longer than our astromical
year, by the whole quantity of the pre-
cession Of the equinoxes. The Indian
zodiac is divided into twenty eight
lunar signs, and the year begins with
the sun 3 arrival at the first degree of
the first sign.
Among the ancient Egyptians the
month consisted of thirty days invari-
ably and in order to complete the
year five days were added at the end,
called supplementary days. They
made use Of no INTERPOLATION and by
losing fourth Of a day every year,
the commencement of the year went
back one day in every period of four
years, and consequently made a
revolution Of the seasons in 1861
years. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BITANNI-
CA.
The ancient Egyptians with a year
Of 800 days added five at the end of
the first, second, and third years in
every period of four. By losing one
day in four years Sothic cycle
resulted in 1456-three hundred sixty
three and three fourths multiplied by
four, plus one equal 1856.
"A division Of time among the May
IS was the Katun or cycle of So. The
Katun was composed of four periods
Of thirteen days each. According to
Landa and Parez the year was divided
into twenty-eight periods of thirteen
days each. In the Calendar Stone the
central figure contains the face of the
sun. In the next we notice four large
parallelograms containing hierogly-
phic signs. In the next zone are
twenty enclosures containing the
symbols for twenty days. The circle is
divided into four parts by four large
triangular pointers or gnomens. In
I each division of the zone are ten
squares containing five points each,
or In the four we have 200. The
\ space occupied by the feet of the
pointers is equal to the width of one
and half of the square enclosures.
Eight times this space gives us twelve
squares with sixty points. Thus we
have the ritnalistic division or lunar
reckoning Of 26O days. Eight pointers
divide the circle: the six upper divi-
sions Of which contain each ten fig
ures resembling grain of maize,
] while the two lower divisions have
but five figures each. Under each
limb of the pointers is space for one
and half of the figures, giving TWEEN
ty-four more or ninety-fonr in all.
The space Of ten additional figures is
occupied by the helm plumes Of the
heads which are figured at the lower
\ margin of the stone. This gives 1O4
i figures,
The most conspicuous Of the re-
naming zones Is the outer and last Of
all. The Mexican Cordices in the
3 Kingsborough collection furnish
similar symbols for the cylce Of SO.
. In the zone we have two groups of
pleats or bow-like figures, which are
clearly proven to be the symbol for
the binding OF two 50 cycles into an
( age. The word translated means the
binding Of the years. The triangular
shape 6s6gures which point to the top
Of the stone indicate that we must
make . calculation, and it remains
for US to interpret that symbol. II is
recognized q the sign Actiol accom-
\ panied by the number thirteen. Hum
bolt by an elaborate discussion has
satisfactorily shown the relative like
ness Of the Nahua Calendar to that
] Of Asia He cites the fact that the
majority Of the names employed by
the Aztecs for the twenty days are
those Of zodiac used since the most
remote antiquity among the people Of
Eastern Asia. The Mexican Calen-
sdar embraced two cycles Of 50 each
signif wing the binding up Of the years
1 md coasistesI Of four periods Of thirteen
IaOnths sach. The Norm AMERI-
CANS or ANTIQUITY BY JOHN 4.
Short III
- s,s,s,