The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-15

change the identity of some of tht
days? Is our first day of the week il
this twentieth century the same day
as was accounted the first of the week
by Hammurabi, King of ancient Baby
lon or by Moses when he kept the
flocks of .Lethro on the pastures OF
Horeb2 Is it the same as the first
day of the Egyptian week known to
Rameses IL in Heliopolis and Thebes
Romulus established a year of 1t
months. following, it is said. the ar
Client Alban year Each of these months
was of the duration of a moons age,
SO that. if we omit the added days
which We're outside the 10 months, the
year of Romulus would be less than
900 days in length. Did these added
years have names when the other days
of the year had none? 1t is not likely
The Romans had no week and no week
days. There could be no names for
days If there We're no months in these
added days of the early Roman call
endar This seems to be an interest
ing field for investigation. 1t is well
known that the Chaldeans tAccadians)
had the week in their system $500
years b. c.; that the Egyptians had it
1000 y. C.; that the Hebrews had il
1900 b. c., yet the Romans had no
week whose days correspond with the
days of the modern Jewish week. How
did II come about that our first day of
the week is the same as that of the
Jews? The strong probability is that
the Jews get their week from the
Bapylonians or the Egyptians, and no
doubt, we got it in turn from them
The only doubt arises in the question as
to whether the Hebrews would not pur-
posely change the days of their hated
captors and oppressors, as they changed
the first day of the week from Sat
urday to Sunday, and the beginning OF
the day from midnight to sunset
Year a Difficult Problem
The year has been a more difficult
problem than any of the periods hereto
lore named. This Is because of its natural
diNlsloh INTO a fractional number of days
and moon revolutions. The celestial
wheels have no cogs. The earth travels
little too slowly for the convenience
OF the makers of calendars If it COM
pleted its solar revolution in 1854 days
instead of in a little over 3s5 davs-an.
parently an easy task-we should have a
year consisting of exactly So seven-day
weeks, and New Years day would nc
longer be a Vagrant through the week
as it is at present
The Jewish year has always been. like
that of the Babylonians one of the l:
lunar months and one intarcalarv month
added when necessary. to keep the veal
In proper relation with the seasons. Al
flrst the embolismic year was added once
In about every three years. In later times
seven months were introduced in the
course of every 10 years.
The ancient Arabian calendar was
purely lunar. Its year consisted of l:
lunar months, with no INTERPOLATION tc
keep them in constant seasonal relation
Iheir year retrogressed through the -four
seasons in about S212 years. Arabian o,
Mohammedan years are arranged in
cycles of 30, 81 of which are common
years of 354 days each, and II are inter.
calary years with an additional day an.
pended to the last month This brings the
average duration of the Mohammedar
month to within 2S seconds of an astro.
nomcal mean lunation, an error which
would amount to day in about 24Ot
years.
China, like nearly all the eastern ma.
tions. has lunar calendar. The months
are alternately 20 and 30 days in dura-
tion and begin when the moon is between
the sun and the earth The year begin.
and ends when these three bodies are In
the same relation. The Chinese add &
thirteenth month to the year after every
30 lunations. Such a plan does not keer
the year in consonance with the seasons
therefore instructions have to be ISSUED
relating to planting. reaping fishing ano
hunting. This accounts for the great bull
of the Chinese almanac, which is said tt
have the largest circulation of any bool
in the world.
The almanac for the year which CLOSED
February 9. 1910, shows that year to have
had IL months: first month secont
month, an intercalary second month, ther
third, fourth, fifth, etc, to the last
which is considered as a twelfth, but i.
in reality a thirteenth month AS tn,
intercalary second month of that veal
contained only % days, the whole veal
contained 3S3 days. The common twelve
month year contains necessarily 354 DAYS
Named Year After Animals
In ancient times the Chinese year,
were named after certain animals. Ever
the hours were so named. A Chinamar
will sometimes even vet tell you he wa.
born in the dragon year or in the dos
year. Clocks are still running which
strike the hour of the rat or the horse
Expressions such as before horse" o
after horse meaning before or afte
noon, We're in use. Noon was "full horse
in the old days.
A few words as to our own calendar
Our day names were derived from th
Scandinavians. The week came to u
from the Jews. the month and the yea
lIOlll lic mo liSlllutlo1l Nd
ever more subject to whim and capric
than the Roman calendar. The 1
months of Romulus became IL unde
Numa, who added January and February
The year was now one of 1854 DAYS. hav
ing II months of % and 80 days alternate
ly. Then a day was added to make TIL
number odd because odd numbers wer
accounted more propitious. A month o
90 and 90 days alternately was intercalate
between the 23d and Gath of February i
every second year. The average numbe
of Gays In the year was now 3661s. Late
the intercalary month was omitted 1
every "a years. The transaction made tn
year average almost solar.
After this. the priests seem to hav
had power to increase or diminish tn
days of any year at will under any plaus
ible preteXt. Their plan was to postpon
an event or hasten it without changin
its date they intercalated days at will
No one knew just when a year woul
begin or end. This continued till Juliu
Caesar found the year A. L. C. 707 s
disordered that 1t was necessary to ad
two months, though it was already
year of 13 months. He thus made it
year of Is months. being 455 days
The average year was now fixed a
3c5h days by giving the odd months 3
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