Consider the problem of coordinating week and month. There are 7
nights in a week, 29 ½ nights in a month. These period are not
congruent: 4 weeks give 28 nights, 5 weeks 35. To solve the problem we start by converting to double-month periods, 59 nights. Still no solution though, because 8 weeks give 56 nights and 9 weeks 63. As we think of the year as primarily divided into two halves, each of which has 3 solar double months, we next try to calculate with 3 double-moon periods = 177 nights. This is equivalent to 25 weeks + 2 nights. But the solar measurement (3 * 60 = 180) implies that we should try to reach 25 weeks + 5 nights. That is one way to explain 5 nights. This also explains why we can count to 25 in some places among the glyphs. Considering that the solar year is longer than 360 days, we could try to be more exact and reach 364 / 2 = 182. Then 5 = 182 - 177, i.e. 3 double month periods + 5 nights. And! This must be the solution to our problem, because then we have 182 = 26 * 7. We have coordinated sun, moon and week. (Though we have not considered the fact that the two half years are different in length, nor that the year is somewhat longer than 364 nights.) |