S6 Hiitton Webster 



researches indicate that in most if not all the Indo-European lan- 

 guages the names for moon and month originally coincided. In 

 Max ^Miiller's poetical language the moon was "the golden hand 

 on the dark dial of heaven."^ 



A lunar month, however, does not necessarily imply a lunar 

 year ; the Melanesians, for instance, count by moons, but are said 

 to have no notion of a year as a fixed period of time.^ The 

 foundation of yearly reckonings must doubtless be sought in 

 marked seasonal contrasts, or, where these are not found, in the 

 observation of the Pleiades. Their isolated appearance and con- 

 spicuous light have always aroused much attention, and their posi- 

 tion in the sky with respect to seed-time and harvest enabled them 

 to serve as a guide to the agriculturist." The reckoning by moons, 

 when once formulated, combines readily with the succession of 

 the seasons, as is seen in the original moon-calendar of Mexico, 

 where several of the months bear seasonal names." That lunar 

 reckonings are likewise associated with the Pleiades year may be 

 illustrated by the practice of the Maori, the first month of whose 

 lunar year was determined by the rising of the Pleiades.** In order 

 to adapt the same moons to the same seasons as they successively 

 occurred, or to the cosmical setting and heliacal rising of the 

 Pleiades, the number of moons was usually reckoned at 12, giving 

 the lunar year of 354 (or 355 days).^ 



The period of a lunation seems to have been most frequently 



* Since this chapter was originally written much valuable material on 

 calendar systems has appeared in Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and 

 Ethics, 191 1, vol. iii. J. v. "Calendar." 



® Codrington, op. cif., 349. The Veddahs of Ceylon are said not to keep 

 "any account of time," reckoning neither months nor years (H. Parker, 

 Ancient Ceylon, London, 1909, pp. 84 sq., 109 sq.). 



" On the significance of the Pleiades generally see " Die Plejaden im 

 Mythus und in ihrer Beziehung zum Jahresbeginn und Landbau," Globus. 

 1893, Ixiv. no. 22. The thorough investigation of the Pleiades calendars 

 found among primitive peoples would be a useful piece of work. 



' Payne, op. cif., ii. 329, for the calendar as conjecturally restored. 



* Shortland, op. cit., 219. 



"The lunar year of 12 synodic months is. exactly, 354d. 8h. 48m. 36s. 



86 



