58 Hiitton Webster 



elsewhere in the African area, there is a common practice of 

 observing new moon as a festival accompanied by cessation of 

 labor {infra). The possibility of a purely utilitarian origin for 

 the institution must also be kept in mind. Here, as in other in- 

 stances, we may look for fuller knowledge to clear up many 

 puzzling problems. 



c. Quasi-Zio/j; Days in Archaic Civilizations 



It is curious to discover in a far distant quarter of the world 

 a rest day observed which presents some similarity to the west 

 African customs. The ancient Peruvians had a lunar month, 

 divided, like that of the Greeks, into three decades. If we may 

 trust an old authority, each of these periods closed with a holiday 

 and season of rest. The institution was attributed to the Apu- 

 Ccapac-Inca, whose beneficent activities gained for him the 

 appellation of Pachacutec, " Reformer of the World. "''^ To 

 Garcilasso de la Vega, this Peruvian sabbath appeared to be 

 solely devised for utilitarian ends. " In order that labor might 

 not be so continuous as to become oppressive, the Ynca ordained 

 that there should be three holidays every month, in which the 

 people should divert themselves with various games. He also 

 commanded that there should be three fairs every month, when 

 the laborers in the field should come to market and hear any- 

 thing that the Ynca or his Council might have ordained. They 

 called these assemblies Catu, and they took place on the holi- 

 days."®' Possibly the observance of a rest day was here once 

 connected with a lunar festival and the accompanying abstinence 

 at such a time. This explanation will scarcely apply, however, 

 to the old Mexican custom of holding a public market or fair 

 at the close of each five-day period, four of which formed the 

 Aztec " month. ""^^ In this instance there could have been no 



*® Perhaps " Reformer of the Calendar," from pacha, time, and ciitina, 

 overturn or reform. 



*" Garcilasso, bk. vi., chap. xxxv. ; C. R. Markham, First Part of the 

 Royal Commentaries of flie Yiicas, London, 1871, ii. 206. 



"' Sahagun, Histoire gcncrale (transl. Jourdanet and Simeon, Parish 



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