Ba8.2 The stars which at present were visible at the Full Moon evidently made it possible to deduce the days according to the structure of the Gregorian (sun) calendar if applied to the Golden Age of the Bull.
And from this information it could easily be deduced to where the Sun now had moved due to the precession since then (viz. 64 right ascension days earlier in the year as measured against the fixed stars). The key was to reduce the nakshatra Moon numbers in the Golden Age of the Bull with 4 synodic lunar months (= 4 * 29½ = 118). 364 + 354 - 600 = 64 + 54 = 118. ... Ogotemmêli had his own ideas about calculation. The Dogon in fact did use the decimal system, because from the beginning they had counted on their fingers, but the basis of their reckoning had been the number eight and this number recurred in what they called in French la centaine, which for them meant eighty. Eighty was the limit of reckoning, after which a new series began. Nowadays there could be ten such series, so that the European 1,000 corresponded to the Dogon 800. But Ogotemmêli believed that in the beginning men counted by eights - the number of cowries on each hand, that they had used their ten fingers to arrive at eighty, but that the number eight appeared again in order to produce 640 (8 x 10 x 8). 'Six hundred and forty', he said, 'is the end of the reckoning.' According to him, 640 covenant-stones had been thrown up by the seventh Nummo to make the outline in the grave of Lébé ... For instance would Acrux in the Southern Cross, which currently was at the Sun in September 24 (267), had been at the Full Moon in day 267 - 64 = 203 (JULY 22 → 22 / 7 = 3.14).
... Whittier said, in his Cry of a Lost Soul: 'The Cross of pardon lights the tropic skies'; which is correct for our day, as it is not now entirely visible above 27º 30' of north latitude. It was last seen on the horizon of Jerusalem - 31º 46' 45'' - about the time that Christ was crucified. But 3000 years previously all its stars were 7º above the horizon of the savages along the shores of the Baltic Sea, in latitude 52º 30' ... Von Humboldt adds: The two great stars, which marks the summit and the foot of the Cross, having nearly the same right ascension, it follows that the constellation is almost perpendicular at the moment when it passes the meridian. This circumstance is known to the people of every nation situated beyond the Tropics or in the southern hemisphere. It has been observed at what hour of the night, in different seasons, the Cross is erect or inclined. It is a time piece, which advances very regularly nearly four minutes a day, and no other group of stars affords to the naked eye an observation of time so easily made. How often have we heard our guides exclaim in the savannahs of Venezuela and in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo, 'Midnight is past, the Cross begins to bend' ...
Another way to look at it is to consider how easily it would have been to transform the current right ascension day numbers for the relevant stars at the Full Moon into the Gregorian days in the Golden Age of the Bull. Because at that ancient time they had waited for the return to visibility of the stars after their close encounters with the Sun, which meant 16 days after the true heliacal dates. For instance would Acrux (*187) have returned to visibility in JULY 22 = day number 187 + 16 = 203.
The Candelabra of the Andes has a dry straight pillar at left in contrast to the flourishing twisted (hiro) one at right. Hiro. 1. A deity invoked when praying for rain (meaning uncertain). 2. To twine tree fibres (hauhau, mahute) into strings or ropes. Ohirohiro, waterspout (more exactly pú ohirohiro), a column of water which rises spinning on itself. Vanaga. To spin, to twist. P Mgv.: hiro, iro, to make a cord or line in the native manner by twisting on the thigh. Mq.: fió, hió, to spin, to twist, to twine. Ta.: hiro, to twist. This differs essentially from the in-and-out movement involved in hiri 2, for here the movement is that of rolling on the axis of length, the result is that of spinning. Starting with the coir fiber, the first operation is to roll (hiro) by the palm of the hand upon the thigh, which lies coveniently exposed in the crosslegged sedentary posture, two or three threads into a cord; next to plait (hiri) three or other odd number of such cords into sennit. Hirohiro, to mix, to blend, to dissolve, to infuse, to inject, to season, to streak with several colors; hirohiro ei paatai, to salt. Hirohiroa, to mingle; hirohiroa ei vai, diluted with water. Churchill. Ta.: Hiro, to exaggerate. Ha.: hilohilo, to lengthen a speech by mentioning little circumstances, to make nice oratorial language. Churchill. Whiro 'Steals-off-and-hides'; also [in addition to the name of Mercury] the universal name for the 'dark of the Moon' or the first day of the lunar month; also the deity of sneak thieves and rascals. Makemson.
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