172 



NEW YEARS DAY. 



charge of the local almanac is said to live at 

 Tumbatu : he finds his New Year's Day by look- 

 ing at the sun, by tracing figures upon the 

 ground, and by comparing the results with Arab- 

 ic calendars. Their weeks begin, as usual with 

 Moslems, on Friday (Ejuma for Juma), the Sa- 

 turday being Juma Mosi, or one day after Friday, 

 and so forth. Thursday, however, is Khamisi. 

 This subdivision of time, though suggested by the 

 quarters of the earth's satellite, is known only to 

 societies which have advanced toward civilization. 

 Thus in Dahome we find a week of four days ; 

 and even China ignores the seven-day week. 



c The universal festivals,' says the late Pro- 

 fessor II. H. Wilson (Essays on the Religion of 

 the Hindus, ii. 155), 6 are manifestly astronom- 

 ical, and are intended to commemorate the revo- 

 lutions of the planets, the alternations of the 

 seasons, and the recurrence of cyclical intervals 

 of longer or shorter duration.' The Nau-roz 

 ( ,y) or New Year's Day, here, as in Syria, 

 locally pronounced Nay-roz, was established in 

 ancient Ariana, according to Persian tradition, by 

 Jamshid, King of Kings, in order to fix the 

 vernal equinox. 1 It is the Holi of the Hindus, 



1 In 1870, for instance, it was kept in Syria on the 11th of 

 ' Adar ' (March), old style, and on Adar 23rd, new style. 



