[Cro Dreoilin] Calendars, was: Happy Lughnassadh!

[Kelley Forbes]

That sounds like an interesting book; what is the title?

The lunar calendar can be more accurate, but it depends on what you mean 
by more accurate. A lunar calendar is certainly more accurate at 
predicting tides, but less accurate at predicting seasonal variations, 
like the agricultural cycle. I think the reason those lunar calendars 
don't need leap days is because they ignore the relation of the months 
with the solar year. The months continue on in the same order, 
continuing to move about the solar year until, 19 years later, they come 
back around to the same place.

The Coligny calendar is a lunar-solar calendar; that is, it uses lunar 
months but reconciles them to the solar year. One interesting thing 
about that is that the method used to compute the calendar shows that 
the Gauls must have had mathematics equivalent to algebra.

-- Kelley.

Charlotte Blackwood wrote:
> VERY cool reading!  Thanks for sharing this info :)  On a related
> note, I just read a book about many folks (not just pagan) are
> starting to return to lunar-based calendars instead of the solar-based
> one.  The book mentioned that a lunar-based calendar is more accurate
> (as in doesn't need to correct w/ leap-years, etc.).  Thoughts?
>
> Charlotte
>
> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 9:56 AM, Kelley Forbes
> <forbesk at astronomytower.net> wrote:
>   
>> Actually, there is evidence for a lot of different timings.
>>
>> There is what we call the calendrical days, come down to us through
>> folklore, both new (the firsts) and old (about 12 days later). There are the
>> natural signs, like we posted about on the second. There is the
>> "astronomical" date, halfway in between the surrounding equinox and
>> solstice. There is evidence from the Coligny calendar that lunar cycles may
>> have been involved, for at least some tribes. No doubt, practical
>> considerations played a part, too. Some festivals, like Lughnassadh, were
>> held over many days, and as the harvest came in at different places, people
>> would travel to the games.
>>
>> -- Kelley.
>>
>> Sue Blackmore wrote:
>>     
>>> Christianity kind of took over all the old feasts. I heard somewhere that
>>> originally they coincided with happenings in the natural world =
>>> Lughnassadh
>>> being timed with the harvest and not necessarily on the same calendar day
>>> each year. Since we aren't as agrarian as our forefathers that timing
>>> doesn't mean as much to us any more.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: community-bounces at crodreoilin.org
>>> [mailto:community-bounces at crodreoilin.org] On Behalf Of Kelley Forbes
>>> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 10:09 PM
>>> To: community at crodreoilin.org
>>> Cc: Kelley Forbes
>>> Subject: Re: [Cro Dreoilin] Happy Lughnassadh!
>>>
>>> I have seen both, but I think 1 August is more common.
>>>
>>> The first of the month is the default; Imbolg/Lá /Féile/ Bríde is the lone
>>> exception, because it was timed coincide with the Feast of the Purification,
>>> which must be exactly 40 days after Christmas, as that was when Mary was
>>> considered no longer unclean after childbirth and could return to the
>>> temple.
>>>
>>> -- Kelley.
>>>
>>> Greyhart wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> I was surprised to get the email yesterday for Lughnassadh, because I
>>>> have
>>>> always celebrated it on Aug. 2nd. Just as Imbolc is February 2nd, it's
>>>> counterpart across the year would be August 2nd. I never knew there was
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> any
>>>
>>>       
>>>> other date for it.
>>>>
>>>> Greyhart
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: community-bounces at crodreoilin.org
>>>> [mailto:community-bounces at crodreoilin.org] On Behalf Of Kelley Forbes
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 4:17 PM
>>>> To: community at crodreoilin.org; Kelley Forbes
>>>> Subject: [Cro Dreoilin] Happy Lughnassadh!
>>>>
>>>> As we sit in the gentle rain and hear far-off thunder, having completed
>>>> our own personal haying and having seen the bales all over the region, we
>>>> wish you all a wonderful, restful natural Lughnassadh. Take a moment to
>>>> appreciate the singular nature of the changing of the seasons!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- Chris and Kelley.
>>>>         
>
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