In today's (March 21) newspaper I found a little notice about March 12:
Earlier day and night were regarded as of equal length in March 12. This idea remained in people's minds also after 1753 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.
The name connected with March 13 was Gregorius - later changed to the more modern form Gregor - I discovered via the Swedish version of Wikipedia. It was Greger from the year 1901 and Gregorius from 1882. Before 1882 the name Gregorius had been connected with March 12, but at that time it was moved to March 13 to give room for the name Viktoria for reasons connected with the Swedish royalty.
I thought March 12 (= 3-12) could allude to 312 = 4 * 78, where 78 could correspond to the synodic cycle of Mars divided by 10 (i.e. like a 'month of Mars').
31 (January) + 28 (February) + 12 (March) = 71, as if to indicate the number of years needed for the precession to move the stars ahead in the year with 1 day.
| March 11 |
12 (71) |
12 |
March 25 (84) |
 |
 |
 |
| Cb14-1 (722) |
Cb14-2 |
Cb14-15 (736) |
I searched for some reason which could explain why the equinox day was not March 14 (3-14), but then I discovered the 'great sweep' in Cb14-1, which may have alluded to π by way of 722, i.e. the common equation 22 / 7 = π 'backwards'.
This is becoming a bit complicated, but we cannot avoid following the trail. However, we can try to look in another direction for a while:
"According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal
intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with
intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long.
In this system, the
average Roman year would have had 366¼ days over four years, giving it an
average drift of one day per year relative to any solstice or equinox.
Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period
within a 24 year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377
days (thus 11 intercalary years out of 24). This refinement averages the
length of the year to 365.25 days over 24 years." Wikipedia)
I made a table for the described 4-year period:
|
355 |
377 |
355 |
378 |
|
355 |
732 |
1087 |
1465 |
|
355 |
366 |
362⅓ |
366¼ |
And then another table for the 24-year period:
|
8 |
8 |
8 |
|
2930 |
355 |
377 |
355 |
377 |
355 |
377 |
355 |
355 |
2930 |
|
355 |
732 |
1087 |
1464 |
1819 |
2196 |
2551 |
2906 |
|
366¼ |
(2930 + 2906) / 16 = 364¾ |
365¼ |
The
component 378 may have been especially interesting, because
it suggested Saturn was involved:
|
Synodic
period |
Orbital period |
|
Mars |
779.96 |
1.88 years |
687 |
|
Mercury |
115.88 |
0.24 years |
88 |
|
Jupiter |
398.88 |
11.86 years |
4332 |
|
Venus |
583.92 |
0.62 years |
227 |
|
Saturn |
378.09 |
29.46 years |
10760 |
(355 +
377) / 2 = 366 could have been the reason behind a rongorongo
cycle with 366 days.
By manipulating the order generated from the 3 kinds of
year (355, 377, and 378) it was possible to reach an average
year equal to the Julian
measure. But 365¼ as the length for the solar year had
always been known (or to be more precise from the time when
someone bothered to measure its length) and it would have been
quite easy to use a standard year with 365 days and then to add 1 day every
4th year.
Towards the end of side a
could be one of the places for juggling with 3 kinds of year:
362, 372, and 378 days long:
 |
 |
|
Ca13-19 (362) |
Ca13-20 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
*Ca14-9 (372) |
*Ca14-10 |
*Ca14-11 |
*Ca14-12 |
*Ca14-13 |
*Ca14-14 |
 |
 |
 |
|
*Ca14-15 (378) |
*Ca14-16 |
*Ca14-17 |
The Saturn synodic
cycle (*Ca14-15) seems to be
referred to also at Ca13-19. The vero glyphs are
the same.
362 + 378 = 740 = 392 + 348.
 |
|
|
|
|
vero |
Ca13-19 (362) |
*Ca14-9 (372) |
*Ca14-15 (378) |
|
vero hia |
te vero |
te vero |
|
Vero
To throw, to hurl (a lance, a
spear). This word was also used with the
particle kua preposed: koía kua
vero i te matá, he is the one who threw
the obsidian [weapon]. Verovero, to
throw, to hurl repeatedly, quickly
(iterative of vero). Vanaga.
1. Arrow, dart, harpoon,
lance, spear, nail, to lacerate, to
transpierce (veo). P Mgv.: vero,
to dart, to throw a lance, the tail;
verovero, ray, beam, tentacle. Mq.:
veó, dart, lance, harpoon, tail, horn.
Ta.: vero, dart, lance. 2. To turn
over face down. 3. Ta.: verovero, to
twinkle like the stars. Ha.: welowelo,
the light of a firebrand thrown into the
air. 4. Mq.: veo, tenth month of the
lunar year. Ha.: welo, a month (about
April). Churchill.
Sa.: velo, to cast
a spear or dart, to spear. To.: velo,
to dart. Fu.: velo, velosi, to
lance. Uvea: velo, to cast; impulse,
incitement. Niuē:
velo,
to throw a spear or dart. Ma.:
wero, to
stab, to pierce, to spear. Ta.:
vero, to
dart or throw a spear. Mg.: vero,
to pierce, to lance. Mgv.: vero,
to lance, to throw a spear. Mq.:
veo, to
lance, to throw a spear. Churchill 2. |
WELO,
v. Haw., to float
or stream in the wind;
to flutter or shake in
the wind, s. the
setting of the sun, or
the appearance of it
floating on the ocean;
welo-welo,
colours or cloth
streaming in the wind, a
tail, as of a kite,
light streaming from a
brand of fire thrown
into the air in the
dark; hoku-welo-welo,
a comet, a meteor;
ko-welo, to drag
behind, as the trail of
a garment, to stream, as
a flag or pennant.
Sam.,
Tong., welo, to
dart, cast a spear of
dart.
Tah.,
wero, to dart,
throw a spear; a storm,
tempest, fig. great
rage; wero-wero,
to twinkle, as the
stars. Marqu., weo,
a tail. Mangar., wero,
a lance, spear.
Greek,
βαλλω,
εβαλον,
to throw, cast, hurl, of
missiles, throw out, let
fall, push forward;
βελος,
a missile, a dart;
βελεμνον,
id., βολη,
a throw, a stroke;
βολος,
anything thrown,
missile, javelin, a cast
of the dice.
Sanskr., pal,
to go, to move. To this
Benfey refers the Lat.
pello,
Greek παλλω,
O. H. Germ. fallan,
A.-Sax.
feallan.
Liddell and Scott are
silent on these
connections ...
(Fornander)
|
...
A
vestige of the practice of putting the king to
death at the end of a year's reign appears to
have survived in the festival called Macahity,
which used to be celebrated in Hawaii during the
last month of the year. About a hundred years
ago a Russian voyager described the custom as
follows: 'The taboo Macahity is not
unlike to our festival of Christmas. It
continues a whole month, during which the people
amuse themselves with dances, plays, and
sham-fights of every kind. The king must open
this festival wherever he is. On this occasion
his majesty dresses himself in his richest cloak
and helmet, and is paddled in a canoe along the
shore, followed sometimes by many of his
subjects. He embarks early, and must finish his
excursion at sunrise.
The
strongest and most expert of the warriors is
chosen to receive him on his landing. The
warrior watches the canoe along the beach; and
as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off
his cloak, he darts his spear at him, from a
distance of about thirty paces, and the king
must either catch the spear in his hand, or
suffer from it: there is no jesting in the
business.
Having caught it, he carries it under his arm,
with the sharp end downwards, into the temple or
heavoo. On his entrance, the assembled
multitude begin their sham-fights, and
immediately the air is obscured by clouds of
spears, made for the occasion with blunted ends.
Hamamea
(the king) has been frequently advised to
abolish this ridiculous ceremony, in which he
risks his life every year; but to no effect. His
answer always is, that he is as able to catch a
spear as any one on the island is to throw it at
him. During the Macahity, all punishments
are remitted throughout the country; and no
person can leave the place in which he commences
these holidays, let the affair be ever so
important.'
At a solstice everyone must
stay still, following the example of the Sun,
and not disturb the cosmic order.
|