Kinahan, in _Folk-lore Record_, 1881, iv, 105). Besides Sunday, Friday is
often considered an unlucky day for cutting hair or nails, and sometimes
a distinction is made between the two days, as in Northumberland, where
it is unlucky to cut hair on a Friday or to pare nails on a Sunday
(_Denham Tracts_, ed. J. Hardy, ii, 343). In Macedonia Wednesday and
Friday are the two days when the nails should not be cut, while Sunday
is unpropitious for bathing (G. F. Abbott, _Macedonian Folk-lore_,
Cambridge, 1903, p. 190). Similar taboos are found outside of Europe.
The Egyptians hold Saturday to be particularly unfavourable for shaving
and cutting the nails (E. W. Lane, _Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians_,⁵ London, 1871, i, 331), while the Jews in Jerusalem think
that the nails should be cut early in the week, so that they may not
start growing on the Sabbath (Miss A. Goodrich-Freer, in _Folklore_,
1904, xv, 187). These superstitions may rest ultimately on the notion
that such acts as hair-cutting, shaving, and nail-paring are ritually
unclean, and hence that their performance on a sacred day would defile
the festival. See in general on this subject, E. E. Sikes, “Hair and
Nails,” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, vi, 474-476.
[237] Plutarch, _Alcibiades_, 34; Xenophon, _Hellenica_, i, 4, 12;
Pollux, _Onomasticon_, viii, 141.
[238] Compare Miss Jane E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek
Religion_, Cambridge, 1903, pp. 114 _sqq._
[239] Varro, _De lingua Latina_, vi, 32; Ovid, _Fasti_, vi, 219 _sqq._,
707 _sqq._; Festus, _De verborum significatione_, ed. C. O. Müller, p.
250; Fowler, _Roman Festivals_, pp. 145 _sqq._
[240] In addition to the Parentalia, Lemuria, and Vestalia, the occasions
on which the Salii performed their dances in March and October (Ovid,
_Fasti_, iii, 393 _sqq._; Livy, xxxvii, 33; Suetonius, _Otho_, 8) and the
two days succeeding the _feriæ Latinæ_ (Cicero, _Ad Qu. frat._, ii, 4, 2)
were included among the _dies religiosi_.
[241] See G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, Munich, 1902, pp.
365-381; _idem_, in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, vi, coll. 2211-2213; A. S. Wilkins, in Smith,
Wayte, and Marindin’s _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_,³
ii, 836-838; and especially C. Jullian, in Daremberg and Saglio’s
_Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines_, iv, 1042-1066. The
plural form _feriæ_ indicates that the festival day recurs periodically;
compare the similar usage as respects _nundinæ_ (below, p. 120). _Feriæ_
seems to have been first written _fesiæ_, whence the word _festus_. On
the derivation of _feriæ_ see A. Walde, _Lateinisches etymologisches
Wörterbuch_,² Heidelberg, 1910, pp. 270 _sq._
[242] Above, pp. 25, 38 _sq._, 43 _sq._, 53.
[243] Festus, _De verborum significatione: denicales feriæ colebantur,
cum hominis mortui causa familia purgabatur_ (ed. Müller, p. 70); compare
Cicero, _De legibus_, ii, 22, 55. It was not lawful to bury a corpse on a
public holiday, doubtless through fear of polluting the sacredness of the
occasion. See Columella, _De re rustica_, ii, 22, 5.
[244] Cato, _De agri cultura_, 138. Compare the Mosaic injunction
relating to the Sabbath (_Deuteronomy_, v, 14).
[245] Ovid, _Fasti_, i, 664 _sq._:
_Pagus agat festum: pagum lustrate, coloni;_
_Et date paganis ennua liba focis._
Some ancient authorities (Varro, _De lingua Latina_, vi, 26; Macrobius,
_Saturnalia_, i, 16, 6) appear to distinguish the Paganalia from the
_feriæ sementivæ_. On this festival see Fowler, _Roman Festivals_, pp.
294 _sqq._; _idem_, _The Religious Experience of the Roman People_,
London, 1911, pp. 61 _sq._
[246] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 16, 8. On the taboos affecting the
Flamen and Flaminica see F. B. Jevons, _Plutarch’s Romane Questions_,
London, 1892, pp. lxxiii _sqq._; Sir J. G. Frazer, _Taboo and the Perils
of the Soul_, pp. 13 _sq._ The Flamen was in a condition of permanent
taboo—_Dialis cotidie feriatus est_ (Gellius, _Noctes Atticæ_, x, 15, 16).
[247] Appian, _Bellum civile_, i, 55; Plutarch, _Sulla_, 8; Dio Cassius,
xxxviii, 6.
[248] Cicero, _De legibus_, ii, 8, 19; compare ii, 12, 29; _idem_, _De
divinatione_, i, 45, 102.
[249] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 16, 9: _Pollux ferias, si ... opus
aliquod fieret_; Festus, _s.v._ _præciamitatores: ut homines se ab opere
abstinerent, quia his opus facientem videre irreligiosum erat_ (ed.
Müller, p. 248).
[250] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 16, 10.
[251] _Ibid._, i, 16, 11; compare _Matthew_, xii, 11; _Luke_, xiv, 5.
[252] Cato, _De agri cultura_, ii, 4.
[253] Vergil, _Georgica_, i, 268-272, with the commentary of Servius. An
entire chapter of Columella’s treatise on husbandry (_De re rustica_, ii,
22) is devoted to a discussion of what may and what may not be done by a
farmer on ferial days. The pontifical law in such matters was as minute,
tyrannical, and absurd as the rabbinical ordinances relating to the
proper observance of the Sabbath. See below, p. 263.
[254] Livy, i, 31, iii, 5, vii, 28, xxi, 62, xxv, 7, xxxiv, 55, xxxv, 40,
xli, 21, xlii, 2; Suetonius, _Divus Claudius_, 22. Many more instances
are given by Julius Obsequens in his curious work, _De prodigiis_, 22,
33, 54, 58, 68, 104, 111.
[255] Gellius, _Noctes Atticæ_, ii, 24, 11; compare Horace, _Carmina_,
ii, 3, 6-9.
[256] The Indians of Cape Flattery, state of Washington, are said to keep
the month of August as a period of repose when no berries are picked
and no fish are taken from the sea, except occasionally by children (J.
G. Swan, in _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, xvi, no. 220,
p. 91). Perhaps the practice was consciously designed to establish a
“close season,” though this is probably attributing too much foresight
to the Indian. The fish or berries may have been considered unfit for
eating in August. After gathering the yam harvest the Bini of Benin
keep the first month of the dry season as a time of idleness (R. E.
Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind_, London, 1906, p. 216).
Here a period of rest is observed by an agricultural people because they
have no special labour to perform. Among the Akikuyu of British East
Africa there are three months in the year when little or no work is
done, since the crops are then ripening (K. R. Dundas, in _Man_, 1909,
ix, 38). The Yuchi Indians, now in the state of Oklahoma, keep autumn
as “a period of combined rest, hunting, and enjoyment.” The winter,
also, is passed in idleness and recreation (F. G. Speck, _Ethnology of
the Yuchi Indians_, Philadelphia, 1909, p. 67). Dr. C. G. Seligmann
has sent to me, in manuscript, some curious information regarding a
division of time observed by the Sinaugolo, a hill-tribe to the east of
Port Moresby, British New Guinea. It seems that long ago, according to
Sinaugolo tradition, the people had to labour incessantly and enjoyed no
opportunity to celebrate their dances and other festive ceremonies. So
they instituted what was called the _kaba_ period as a relaxation from
the hard work of ordinary life. During this period, which recurred every
other year or oftener, the Sinaugolo danced and held their most important
feasts. The division of time into _kaba_ and _dauka_ (specially devoted
to labour) has now lapsed.
[257] _The Evolution of the Aryan_, translated by A. Drucker, London,
1897, p. 117.
[258] On primitive markets see Karl Andree, _Geographie des Welthandels_,
Stuttgart, 1867, i, 40-81; C. Köhne, “Markt-, Kaufmanns- und Handelsrecht
in primitiven Kulturverhältnissen,” _Zeitschrift für vergleichende
Rechtswissenschaft_, 1895, xi, 196-220; R. Lasch, “Das Marktwesen auf den
primitiven Kulturstufen,” _Zeitschrift für Socialwissenschaft_, 1906,
ix, 619-627, 700-715, 764-782; H. Schurtz, _Das afrikanische Gewerbe_,
Leipzig, 1900, pp. 115-122; P. J. Hamilton Grierson, _The Silent Trade_,
Edinburgh, 1903, pp. 54-62; H. L. Roth, “Trading in Early Days,”
_Bankfield Museum Notes_, Halifax (Eng.), 1908, no. 5, pp. 23 _sqq._;
N. W. Thomas, “The Market in African Law and Custom,” _Journal of the
Society of Comparative Legislation_, 1908, n.s., no. 19, pp. 90-106.
[259] Some observers use ambiguous language, when referring to the
length—four, five, six days, etc.—of market weeks. Throughout this
chapter I have regularly translated by “every fifth day” such expressions
as “tous les cinq jours,” “de cinq en cinq jours,” “alle fünf Tage,”
“einmal in fünf Tagen,” and “einmaal in de vijf dagen.”
[260] A. W. Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, London,
1904, pp. 714 _sqq._ On Australian barter see G. C. Wheeler, _The Tribe
and Intertribal Relations in Australia_, London, 1910, pp. 93-97.
[261] A. C. Haddon, _Head-hunters, Black, White, and Brown_, London,
1901, pp. 265, 269.
[262] James Chalmers, in Chalmers and Gill, _Work and Adventure in New
Guinea_, London, 1885, pp. 40 sq. Compare M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_,
Berlin, 1899, p. 335. Sir William MacGregor observes that the institution
of the Sabbath, as a day of rest, “is not quite new to the Papuan,
but ... the Papuan Sabbath of Keapara [Kerepunu] exceeds the Hebrew
in dividing time into weeks of three days. The great majority of the
tribes, however, do not seem to have a regular week, and work or rest
capriciously” (_British New Guinea_, London, 1897, pp. 44 _sq._). See
above, p. 26 _n._¹
[263] C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_,
Cambridge, 1910, pp. 48, 94 (Koita).
[264] J. S. A. van Dissel, in _Tijdschrift van het koninklijk
nederlandsch aardrijkskundig genootschap_, 1904, second series, xxi, 644.
[265] J. Graf Pfeil, _Studien und Beobachtungen aus der Südsee_,
Brunswick, 1899, p. 116.
[266] J. J. Atkinson, in _Folklore_, 1903, xiv, 245. Mr. Atkinson in
this passage probably has in mind the European week introduced into New
Caledonia by the French.
[267] Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, London, 1908, p. 288; Wilkes,
_Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition_, iii, 300 _sq._ (Somu-Somu,
in the Fiji group); J. J. Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich
Islands_,² Boston, 1843, p. 77.
[268] P. Sarasin and F. Sarasin, _Reisen in Celebes_, Wiesbaden, 1905,
ii, 324.
[269] W. Marsden, _The History of Sumatra_,³ London, 1811, pp. 379 _sq._;
F. Junghuhn, _Die Battaländer auf Sumatra_, Berlin, 1847, pp. 227 _sq._;
J. v. Brenner, _Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras_, Würzburg, 1894, p.
291; B. Hagen, in _Petermanns Mitteilungen_, 1883, xxix, 173 (Batta of
Lake Toba); W. Volz, _Nord-Sumatra_, Berlin, 1909, i, 267.
[270] Sir T. S. Raffles, _History of Java_,² London, 1830, i, 531; P. J.
Veth, _Java_,² Haarlem, 1907, iv, 296 _sqq._ The names of the days in
the _pasar_ were considered to bear a mystical relation to colours and
the divisions of the horizon, the first day (white, east), the second
(red, south), the third (yellow, west), the fourth (black, north), and
the fifth day a mixed colour, and _focus_, or centre. See John Crawfurd,
_History of the Indian Archipelago_, Edinburgh, 1820, i, 289 _sq._ These
fancies must be explained by the colour symbolism which so frequently
attaches to the cardinal points.
[271] R. Friederich, in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1878,
n.s., x, 88 _sqq._; compare _ibid._, 1876, n.s., viii, 198.
[272] W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, London, 1900, pp. 545 _sq._
[273] J. Richard, _Histoire naturelle, civile, et politique du Tonquin_,
Paris, 1778, i, 151.
[274] Lillian J. Curtis, _The Laos of North Siam_, Philadelphia, 1903, p.
132.
[275] Mrs. Leslie Milne, _The Shans at Home_, London, 1910, p. 132.
[276] C. E. D. Black, in _Geographical Journal_, 1895, vi, 30 (Shan
of Upper Burma). Compare also _Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan
States_, edited by Scott and Hardiman, Rangoon, 1900, pt. i, vol. i, p.
536 (Shan of Lower Burma).
[277] R. G. Woodthorpe, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1897, xxvi, 19.
[278] P. R. T. Gurdon, _The Khasis_, London, 1907, p. 189. According to
C. Becker (_Anthropos_, 1909, iv, 894) the market is called _jeu duh_.
[279] Gurdon, _op. cit._, p. 190. Compare Sir J. D. Hooker (_Himalayan
Journals_, London, 1891, p. 487), who attributes the fourth-day markets
to the Khasi generally.
[280] J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours_, London,
1867, pp. 82, 365.
[281] W. W. A. Fitzgerald, _Travels in the Coastlands of British East
Africa_, London, 1898, p. 111, quoting W. E. Taylor, _Vocabulary of the
Giryama Language_, London, 1897. The name applied to the first day of
the week—_jumwa_—is directly taken from the Arabic _al jum‘a_ (Friday,
the Mohammedan day of worship), from which circumstance it may be
concluded that the Wagiriama observe _jumwa_ both as a market day and a
rest day. Similarly, the name of the weekly market held at Antananarivo,
the capital of Madagascar, is _zoma_, or Friday (_Antananarivo Annual_,
1889-1892, iv, 372).
[282] K. R. Dundas, in _Man_, 1909, ix, 38.
[283] W. S. Routledge and Katherine Routledge, _With a Prehistoric
People_, London, 1910, pp. 105 _sq._
[284] A. Widenmann, in _Petermanns Mitteilungen_, 1899, Ergänzungsheft,
no. 129, p. 69; M. Merker, _ibid._, 1902, no. 138, p. 25; G. Volkens,
_Der Kilimandscharo_, Berlin, 1897, p. 239; B. Gutmann, “Feldbausitten
und Wachstumsbräuche der Wadschagga,” _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1913,
xlv, 502.
[285] Horace Waller, editor, _The Last Journals of David Livingstone in
Central Africa_, New York, 1875, p. 367. See also V. L. Cameron, _Across
Africa_, London, 1877, ii, 3.
[286] E. Torday, in _Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in
Wien_, 1911, xli, 192.
[287] H. v. Wissmann _et al._, _Im Innern Afrikas_,³ Leipzig, 1891, p.
252.
[288] H. v. Wissmann, _My Second Journey through Equatorial Africa_,
London, 1891, p. 125.
[289] Torday and Joyce, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1906, xxxvi, 44. Each day of the Bayaka week bears a name, the last being
_pungu_, or market day (_ibid._, p. 47).
[290] Torday and Joyce, _ibid._, 1905, xxxv, 413. The Bambala year
consists of thirteen lunar months, each divided into seven weeks of four
days, the last day of each week being _pika_, or market day.
[291] Torday and Joyce, _ibid._, 1906, xxxvi, 291.
[292] Sir H. H. Johnston, _The River Congo_, London, 1884, p. 455.
[293] H. H. Bentley, _Pioneering on the Congo_, London, 1900, i, 399 _sq._
[294] J. K. Tuckey, _Narrative of an Expedition to explore the River
Zaire_, New York, 1818, p. 238.
[295] E. Pechuël-Loesche, in _Die Loango-Expedition_, dritte Abteilung,
erste Hälfte, Stuttgart, 1907, p. 139. See also A. Bastian, _Die deutsche
Expedition an der Loango-Küste_, Jena, 1874, i, 209.
[296] R. E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind_, London, 1906,
pp. 64, 140; _idem_, _Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort_, London, 1898,
pp. 8, 137. Among the lower Congo tribes, generally, the dead are buried
only on two of the four weekdays (J. H. Weeks, in _Folklore_, 1909, xx,
61; compare _idem_, _Among the Primitive Bakongo_, Philadelphia, 1914, p.
249).
[297] L. B. Proyart, _Histoire de Loango, Kakongo, et autres royaumes
d’Afrique_, Paris, 1776, p. 116. A still earlier reference to this
African Sabbath will be found in G. A. Cavazzi da Montecuccoli,
_Istorica descrizione de’ tre regni Congo, Matamba, et Angola_, Bologna,
1687, p. 24. For further details relating to markets and market weeks
among the lower Congo peoples see Herbert Ward, _Five Years with the
Congo Cannibals_, London, 1890, p. 59; J. H. Weeks, _Congo Life and
Folklore_, London, 1911, pp. 227 _sq._; H. Nipperdey, “Zur Bedeutung
der Wochen-Märkte am Congo,” _Revue coloniale internationale_, 1887,
v, 205-214; A. Thonnar, _Essai sur le système économique des primitifs
d’après les populations de l’état indépendant du Congo_, Brussels,
1901, pp. 82-114; A. Cureau, _Les sociétés primitives de l’Afrique
équatoriale_, Paris, 1912, pp. 295 _sqq._
[298] F. Hutter, _Wanderungen und Forschungen im Nord-Hinterland von
Kamerun_, Brunswick, 1902, pp. 266, 360; compare Preuss, in _Deutsches
Kolonialblatt_, 1898, ix, 456.
[299] W. F. Daniell, in _Journal of the Ethnological Society_, 1848, i,
222 _sq._
[300] A. G. Leonard, _The Lower Niger and its Tribes_, London, 1906,
pp. 305, 375; William Allen, _Narrative of the Expedition sent by Her
Majesty’s Government to the River Niger in 1841_, London, 1848, i, 398;
N. W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of
Nigeria_, London, 1913, i, 127. Seven weeks are here counted to the month
of twenty-eight days (W. F. Baikie, _Narrative of an Exploring Voyage_,
London, 1856, p. 316). An early missionary to west Africa observes
that among the Ibo, Igara, and other Nigerian tribes the week consists
of four days, viz. _eke_, a market day and unlucky for the _ata_, or
chief, to see strangers, _ede_, a lucky or good day, _afo_, an unlucky
day, and _uko_, a lucky day. Besides these days of good and evil omen
the Mohammedans have made the natives believe that Friday is an unlucky
day to undertake any work of importance (S. A. Crowther, in _The Church
Missionary Intelligencer_, 1865, n.s., i, 55).
[301] J. Parkinson, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1906,
xxxvi, 317.
[302] N. W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples
of Nigeria_, London, 1910, i, 18 _sq._ That the eight-day week of
the Bini has developed from a more ancient four-day week is also the
opinion of R. E. Dennett (_At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind_, pp.
214, 364). The Bini week has been stated to consist of five days (Cyril
Punch, quoted in H. L. Roth, _Great Benin_, Halifax [Eng.], 1903, p. 52
_n._¹), but this is certainly an error. An early traveller among the
Bini declares that their Sabbath “happens every fifth day, which is very
solemnly observed by the great with the slaughter of cows, sheep, and
goats, whilst the commonalty kill dogs, cats, and chickens, or whatever
their money will reach to. And of whatever is killed, large portions
are distributed to the necessitous, in order to enable them, as every
person is obliged to celebrate this festival” (David van Nyendael, “A
Description of Rio Formosa, or the River of Benin,” in W. Bosman, _A New
and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea_, London, 1705, p. 456).
[303] A. B. Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples_, London, 1887, pp. 89, 93.
On the Gold Coast white seems to be the special colour appropriate for
holy or festive days. On a man’s birthday, which is sacred to his _kra_,
or tenanting spirit, he abstains from work, puts white clay on his face,
and dons a white cloth (_ibid._, p. 156). On the Tshi holy days, observed
by families or private persons only, see further Bosman, _op. cit._,
p. 153; W. Hutton, _A Voyage to Africa_, London, 1821, p. 166 _n._*
(Ashanti); E. Perregaux, _Chez les Achanti_, Neuchâtel, 1906, p. 272; J.
Parkinson, in _Man_, 1911, xi, 2 (Appolonians).
[304] Ellis, _The Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, London, 1894, p. 145.
[305] _Ibid._, p. 149.
[306] Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, pp. 220 _sq._ Beecham declares that
were the fishermen to go out to sea on this day, “the fetish would be
angry and spoil their fishing” (_Ashantee and the Gold Coast_, London,
1841, p. 186). Compare also Bosman, _op. cit._, p. 160; Miss Mary H.
Kingsley, _West African Studies_,² London, 1901, p. 145.
[307] Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, pp. 220, 304.
[308] _Idem_, _The Ewe-speaking Peoples_, London, 1890, pp. 41, 79.
[309] _Ako-ojo_, “First Day”; _ojo-awo_, “Day of the Secret,” sacred
to Ifa; _ojo-ogun_, “Day of Ogun,” the god of iron; _ojo-shango_, “Day
of Shango,” the god of thunder; _ojo-obatala_, “Obatala’s Day.” A holy
day is called _ose_ (_se_, to disallow), and because each holy day
recurs weekly, _ose_ has also come to mean the week of five days (Ellis,
_Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, pp. 145 _sq._). According to an earlier writer
_osse_ (_ose_), or holy day, comes from a word signifying silence. This
expression was transferred to the Christian Sunday, with which the
Yoruba became familiar after the year 1822, when many of them emigrated
to Sierra Leone (Miss Sarah Tucker, _Abbeokuta; or Sunrise within the
Tropics_,² London, 1853, p. 37 _n._*). Whether the Yoruba week really
consists of five days seems open to grave doubt. Bishop James Johnson, a
native African, substantiates Ellis by giving the names of the five days
(quoted in Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind_, p. 245), and
also speaks of “every fifth day, which is the close of a week of _oses_,
or worshipping days” (_ibid._, p. 251). But Mr. Dennett himself, in his
latest work, cites three native informants in favour of a week of four
days. Moreover, Shango’s (Jakuta’s) Day is described by Mr. Dennett as
the Yoruba “Sunday.” The first day of the week is Ogun’s Day, the other
weekdays following in the order given by Ellis. It is to be noted that
Ogun’s Day, the first, fifth, ninth, and so on, is the regular market
day. The god Ogun in some parts of Yorubaland has taken the place of
another deity, Odudua, whom Mr. Dennett found to be universally regarded
as the originator of the system of weekdays (_Nigerian Studies_,
London, 1910, pp. 72-80). A five-day week has been noted among the
Jebu of southeastern Yorubaland (D’Avezac, in _Mémoires de la société
ethnologique_, 1845, ii, pt. ii, 81), and Burton refers to the same
institution among the Egba, by whom the terminal day is called _ose_ (R.
F. Burton, _Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains_, London, 1863, i, 205).
[310] Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, p. 145.
[311] F. E. Forbes, _Dahomey and the Dahomans_, London, 1851, p. 181.
For every fourth day as the market day at Whydah see P. E. Isert, _Neue
Reise nach Guinea und den Caribäischen Inseln in Amerika_, Berlin, 1790,
p. 132. Bosman (_op. cit._, p. 352) makes the Fida (Whyda) market recur
every third day. A great market every sixth day is said to be held in the
district about the town of Ardrah (Allada), Dahomey (John Adams, _Remarks
on the Country extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo_, London,
1823, p. 88).
[312] Four-day weeks: R. Plehn, _Beiträge zur Völkerkunde des
Togo-Gebietes_, Halle, 1898, p. 9; J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_, Berlin,
1906, p. 311 (Ho); five-day weeks: R. Plehn, in _Mitteilungen von
Forschungsreisenden und Gelehrten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten_,
1896, ix, 123; six-day weeks: von Zech, _ibid._, 1898, xi, 128;
Christaller, in _Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft für
Thüringen_, 1890, viii, 121; L. Conradt, in _Petermanns Mitteilungen_,
1896, xlii, 15 (Adele). The Akposo, who have a week of five days, keep
the fifth day sacred to their creator-god, Uwolowo, whose name it bears.
The other gods are worshipped on the second day of the week, a time when
no work may be done (F. Müller, in _Anthropos_, 1907, ii, 201).
[313] A. Mischlich, in _Mitteilungen von Forschungsreisenden und
Gelehrten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten_, 1896, ix, 83.
[314] E. Henrici, _Lehrbuch der Ephe-Sprache_, Stuttgart, 1891, pp. 59
_sq._ The names of the seven weekdays in the Ewe and Tshi languages are
almost identical. See the lists in Henrici, _op. cit._, pp. 59 _sq._, and
Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, p. 218. The Ewe have borrowed from the
Tshi not only the names of the weekdays but also the custom of giving to
private persons names derived from those of the weekdays (Henrici, _op.
cit._, p. 60).
[315] Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, pp. 146 _sq._; _idem_,
_Tshi-speaking Peoples_, p. 218.
[316] Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, p. 147. For the names of the Ga
weekdays, see _ibid._, p. 143. An early writer, whose observations were
confined to Akkra on the Gold Coast, speaks of _haughbah_ (_ho-gba_) as
one of the two sacred days of the seven-day week. It is compulsory for
all ranks and sexes, but is especially observed by the women. “Under the
supposition that some malign potency pervades the surrounding country on
this day, more particularly directed against the pregnant women, their
daily avocations are restricted within the walls of their domiciles, no
egress being tolerated either for the purposes of travelling or other
exterior occupations. Not many people, therefore, presume to violate
these injunctions by issuing forth early in the forenoon, and none resort
to their familiar haunts in the markets or public thoroughfares, until
the prohibition has been withdrawn, by the well-known sign of a declining
sun” (W. F. Daniell, in _Journal of the Ethnological Society_, 1856, iv,
23).
[317] R. A. Freeman, _Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jáman_,
Westminster, 1898, p. 176 (market every fourth day among the Gaman, a
Tshi-speaking people); M. Monnier, _France noire_, Paris, 1894, p. 209
(market every fifth day in Kong); L. G. Binger, _Du Niger au golfe de
Guinée_, Paris, 1892, i, 370 (market every fifth day among the Diulasu);
L. Desplagnes, _Le plateau central nigérien_, Paris, 1907, p. 377 (market
every sixth day among the Habbe). A market every ninth day is described
as being held at Bocqua in Northern Nigeria (R. Lander and J. Lander,
_Journal of an Expedition to explore the Course and Termination of the
Niger_, London, 1832, iii, 73, 82). For a general account of markets
among the Nigerian peoples see A. Hovelacque, _Les nègres de l’Afrique
sus-équatoriale_, Paris, 1889, pp. 355 _sqq._
[318] A. Mischlich, _Lehrbuch der hausanischen Sprache_, Berlin, 1902, p.
127 (Hausa); J. S. Gallieni, _Voyage au Soudan français, Haut-Niger, et
pays de Segou_, Paris, 1885, p. 436 (Segu); R. Callié, _Travels through
Central Africa to Timbuctoo_, London, 1830, i, 323, 346 (Mandingo);
A. Hacquard, _Monographie de Tombouctou_, Paris, 1900, p. 55; O.
Lenz, _Timbuktu_, Leipzig, 1884, i, 154. The Bali market is said to
be held every seventh day, _i.e._, on Friday. Here, again, Mohammedan
influence is to be suspected (F. Hutter, _Wanderungen und Forschungen im
Nord-Hinterland von Kamerun_, Brunswick, 1902, p. 361).
[319] C. van Overbergh, _Les Mayombe_, Brussels, 1907, p. 353; A. de
Calonne Beaufaict, _Études Bakango_, Liége, 1912, p. 79; J. H. Weeks,
_Among the Primitive Bakongo_, Philadelphia, 1914, pp. 248 _sq._ Some
of the Galla tribes have been so far affected by Arabic influences as
to hold their markets every seventh day (P. Paulitschke, _Ethnographie
Nordost-Afrikas. Die materielle Kultur der Danâkil, Galla, und Somâl_,
Berlin, 1893, p. 313).
[320] Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, p. 217. So also B. Cruickshank
(_Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa_, London, 1853, ii, 189
_sq._).
[321] No evidence for markets has been discovered among the Bantu tribes
south of the Zambesi. The absence of markets elsewhere is sometimes
specifically noted by our authorities; see F. Thonner, _Im afrikanischen
Urwald_, Berlin, 1898, p. 33 (Mondunga, on the Dua River, Belgian Congo);
J. Maes, in _Anthropos_, 1913, viii, 357 (Mongelima, on the Aruwimi
River, Belgian Congo); A. J. N. Tremearne, _The Tailed Head-hunters of
Nigeria_, London, 1912, p. 245 (Kagoro and other pagan tribes of Northern
Nigeria).
[322] Above, pp. 107, 109, 111.
[323] D. F. S. Clavigero, _Storia antica del Messico_, Cesena, 1780, ii,
62, 163; B. de Sahagun, _Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España_,
transl. Jourdanet and Siméon, Paris, 1880, pp. lxxiii, 290 _sq._; A.
von Humboldt, _Vues des Cordillères_, Paris, 1816, ii, 340; G. Brühl,
_Die Culturvölker Alt-Amerikas_, New York, 1887, p. 234; J. Kohler, “Das
Recht der Azteken,” _Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft_,
1895, xi, 75, 87; E. J. Payne, _History of the New World called America_,
Oxford, 1892-1899, ii, 359. A greater market or fair was sometimes held
once in every cycle of twenty days, that is, on every fourth ordinary
market day. Eighteen market months were included in the solar year. How
such “months” may arise is illustrated by a Yoruba mode of computing
time by periods of seventeen days, that being the number of days in four
market weeks, when the first and fifth days of each cycle are counted in
(Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, pp. 149 _sq._).
[324] Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique
et de l’Amérique-Centrale_, Paris, 1858, iii, 464.
[325] A. von Humboldt, _op. cit._, i, 340, ii, 227; Brühl, _op. cit._, p.
239; compare p. 326, where a market every fourth day is stated to have
been held in Turmequé. In Sorotoca the market took place every eighth day
(_ibid._). But authentic details concerning the Chibcha calendar are not
to be had. According to von Humboldt (_op. cit._, ii, 244) ten of the
Muysca “weeks” formed a lunation called _suna_. The _suna_ began, not at
new moon, but at full moon.
[326] Garcilasso de la Vega, _Comentarios reales de los Incas_, pt. i,
bk. vi, ch. 35; C. R. Markham, _First Part of the Royal Commentaries
of the Yncas_, London, 1871, ii, 206. It is an old error, for which
Garcilasso de la Vega (_op. cit._, pt. i, bk. ii, ch. 23) appears to be
responsible, that the Peruvians had a week of seven days, following the
successive phases of the moon. But Acosta, who visited Peru soon after
the Spanish conquest of that country, is better informed and says clearly
that neither Peruvians nor Mexicans had a seven-day week (J. de Acosta,
_Historia de las Indias_, bk. vi, ch. 3; _The Natural and Moral History
of the Indies_, edited by C. R. Markham, London, 1880, ii, 396).
[327] See G. E. Marindin, in Smith, Wayte, and Marindin’s _Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Antiquities_,³ ii, 251 _sq._; M. Besnier, in Daremberg,
Saglio, and Pottier’s _Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines_,
vii, 120-122; E. Huschke, _Das alte römische Jahr und seine Tage_,
Breslau, 1869, pp. 288-312; R. Flex, _Die älteste Monatseinteilung der
Römer_, Jena, 1880, pp. 16 _sqq._; and especially P. Huvelin, _Essai
historique sur le droit des marchés et des foires_, Paris, 1897, pp.
84-99. According to the Roman system of inclusive reckoning—which
may be compared with that sometimes employed in Yorubaland (p. 119
_n._¹)—the market fell on the ninth day, as the derivation of the word
_nundinæ_ (from _novem_) indicates. It has been suggested by H. Diels
(_Sibyllinische Blätter_, Berlin, 1890, p. 41 _n._¹) that the choice of
the ninth day was influenced by the symbolism attaching to the number
nine among the Romans, as among other Indo-European peoples; compare the
Nones, or the ninth day before the Ides, and the nine days’ festivals
(_novemdiales feriæ_). Probably, however, the Roman market week consisted
originally of four days only, and later was doubled to form the cycle
employed in historic times. The nundinal days were not named, but were
indicated in the calendars by letters of the alphabet from A to H.
[328] Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i, 16, 32 _sq._; Dionysius
Halicarnassensis, _Antiquitates Romanæ_, ii, 28, vii, 58; compare Varro,
_De re rustica_, ii, præf. Cicero attributes the institution of markets
to Numa (_De republica_, ii, 14, 27).
[329] _Tertiis nundinis partis secanto (Tabula_ iii, 6, in Gellius,
_Noctes Atticæ_, xx, i, 49).
[330] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 16, 30; Pliny, _Historia naturalis_,
xviii, 3. I accept the view that the _lex Hortensia_ converted the
_nundinæ_ into _dies fasti non comitiales_, that is, forbade comitial
meetings on these dates, though allowing judicial business to be done
thereon. For this explanation see G. W. Botsford, _The Roman Assemblies_,
New York, 1909, pp. 139, 315, 471; Marquardt-Wissowa, _Römische
Staatsverwaltung_, Leipzig, 1885, iii,² 290. It has been maintained that
toward the end of the republican period the prohibition referred to was
no longer observed (P. Groebe, in Drumann-Groebe, _Geschichte Roms_,²
Berlin, 1899-1906, iii, 779).
[331] Above, pp. 94 _sqq._
[332] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 16, 30. According to Plutarch
(_Quæstiones Romanæ_, 42), the _nundinæ_ were consecrated to Saturn.
[333] _Omnes judices urbanæque plebes et cunctarum artium officia
venerabili die Solis quiescant_ (_Codex Justinianus_, iii, 12, 3).
The prohibition of holding court on Sunday was relaxed by Constantine
in the same year so far as to permit such legal proceedings as the
emancipation and manumission of slaves to take place at this time (_Codex
Theodosianus_, ii, 8, 1). Eusebius (_Vita Constantini_, iv, 18-20) tells
us that the emperor forbade all military exercises on Sunday.
[334] Above, p. 98.
[335] _Provisione etiam pietatis su[a]e nundinas die Solis perpeti anno
constituit_ (_Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum_, iii, no. 4121, p. 523).
Markets were held on Sunday in many parts of Europe until late in the
Middle Ages, in spite of numerous edicts, ecclesiastical and civil,
forbidding the practice (Huvelin, _op. cit._, pp. 46, 156 _sq._).
[336] The date of the obsolescence of the _nundinæ_ is not definitely
known. The _fasti Philocali_ (354 A.D.) marks the days of the seven-day
week by the letters A-G, and gives side by side the old nundinal letters
A-H (_Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum_, i, pt. i,² 256 _sqq._). This
arrangement had probably become a feature of the state calendar since the
Sunday legislation of Constantine.
[337] P. Ehrenreich, _Die allgemeine Mythologie und ihre ethnologischen
Grundlagen_, Leipzig, 1910, pp. 114-127; S. Arrhenius, “Über den Ursprung
des Gestirnkultus,” _Scientia_, 1911, ix, pp. 424 _sqq._, Sir J. G.
Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,³ London, 1914, ii, 140-150; E. J.
Payne, _History of the New World called America_, Oxford, 1892-1899, i,
547 _sqq._; W. H. Roscher, _Über Selene und Verwandtes_, Leipzig, 1890,
pp. 1-16, and _Nachträge_, Leipzig, 1895, pp. 1-19. For the ideas of
civilized children relating to the moon see J. W. Slaughter, “The Moon in
Childhood and Folklore,” _American Journal of Psychology_, 1902, xiii,
294-318; G. S. Hall, “Note on Moon Fancies,” _ibid._, 1903, xiv, 88-91.
[338] Albîrûnî, _India_, translated by C. E. Sachau, London, 1888, i, 346
_sq._ Compare the fine passage in Apuleius (_Metamorphoses_, xi, 1).
[339] Spix and Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_, Munich, 1823-1831, i, 381,
iii, 1186.
[340] K. Weule, _Native Life in East Africa_, London, 1909, p. 188. On
the other hand, children of the Bageshu, a Bantu people of British East
Africa, are expected to take part in new-moon dances, since it is thought
that they derive benefit from the moon (J. Roscoe, in _Journal of the
Anthropological Institute_, 1909, xxxix, 193). A Baganda mother believes
that her child will grow strong and healthy, if it is shown the first
new moon after its birth (_idem_, _The Baganda_, London, 1911, p. 58).
Similarly, it is said that in the island of Kiriwina, the largest of the
Trobriand group to the east of New Guinea, a mother always presents her
child to the first new moon after its birth, in order that it may grow
fast and talk soon (George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, London,
1910, p. 37).
[341] Plutarch, _Quæstiones conviviales_, iii, 10, 3.
[342] A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart_,³ edited by
E. H. Meyer, Berlin, 1900, p. 391 (Oldenburg).
[343] W. E. Roth, _North Queensland Ethnography_, _Bulletin_, 1903, no.
5, p. 7.
[344] W. H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. Lloyd, _Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore_,
London, 1911, pp. 67 _sq._
[345] W. Bogoras, in _Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History_,
xi, 306.
[346] C. M. Doughty, _Travels in Arabia Deserta_, Cambridge, 1888, i, 444.
[347] _Psalms_, cxxi, 6. Another Biblical passage (_Hosea_, v, 7),
possibly referring to the moon, is most obscure.
[348] _Matthew_, iv, 24, xvii, 15. The Greek verb used here is
σεληνιάζομαι.
[349] E. Combe, _Histoire du culte de Sin en Babylonie et en Assyrie_,
Paris, 1908, pp. 36 _sqq._
[350] _Quæstiones conviviales_, iii, 10, 3.
[351] P. Sébillot, _Le folk-lore de France_, Paris, 1904-1907, i, 45.
[352] Wuttke-Meyer, _op. cit._, p. 301.
[353] _Ibid._, p. 59. In Voigtland, central Germany, the assaults of
witches are especially looked for and dreaded on Mondays (R. Eisel,
_Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes_, Gera, 1871, p. 210).
[354] Fanny D. Bergen, _Current Superstitions_, Boston, 1896, p. 120.
[355] For the belief that impregnation can be accomplished by the sun,
see Sir J. G. Frazer, _Balder the Beautiful_, London, 1913, i, 74 _sqq._
[356] Mrs. K. L. Parker, _The Euahlayi Tribe_, London, 1905, pp. 50, 64,
98.
[357] C. G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological
Expedition to Torres Straits_, v, 206 _sq._ The word for moon, _ganumi_,
is sometimes used as a synonym of _nanamud_, the proper expression
for menstrual blood (_ibid._). Compare A. Hunt, in _Journal of the
Anthropological Institute_, 1899, xxviii, 11.
[358] C. G. Seligmann, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1902, xxxii, 303 _sq._ (Sinaugolo of the Rigo District); E. Beardmore,
_ibid._, 1890, xix, 460 (Mawatta of the Daudai District); A. Baessler,
_Neue Südsee Bilder_, Berlin, 1900, p. 383 (Santa Cruz Islands).
[359] E. Best, “Notes on Procreation among the Maori People of New
Zealand,” _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, 1905, xiv, 210 _sq._
[360] C. W. Hobley, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1903,
xxxiii, 358.
[361] J. Roscoe, _ibid._, 1901, xxxi, 121.
[362] Thomas Winterbottom, _An Account of the Native Africans in the
Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone_, London, 1803, ii, 206 (Mandingo, Susu,
etc.).
[363] Hans Egede, _A Description of Greenland_, London, 1745, p. 205.
[364] W. B. Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_, London, 1911,
p. 139.
[365] P. J. de Arriaga, _Extirpación de la idolatria del Piru_, Lima,
1621, p. 32.
[366] H. Brugsch, _Religion und Mythologie der alten Ägypter_, Leipzig,
1885, p. 335. The sacred bull Apis, which the Egyptians regarded as an
image of the soul of Osiris, a god often identified with the moon, was
supposed to be born of a virgin cow impregnated by a divine influence
emanating from the moon (Plutarch, _Quæstiones conviviales_, viii, 1,
3; _idem_, _De Iside et Osiride_, 43). On the discovery of an Apis the
Egyptians kept a holiday (Herodotus, iii, 28).
[367] W. H. Roscher, “Aphrodite,” in Roscher’s _Ausführliches Lexikon der
griechischen und römischen Mythologie_, i, coll. 390 _sq._
[368] L. H. Gray, in _Spiegel Memorial Volume_, Bombay, 1908, pp.
160-168. Râkâ and Sînîvalî, two of the Vedic goddesses identified
with the lunar phases, seem to have been associated with childbirth
(_Rig-Veda_, ii, 32; transl. H. Grassmann, i, 41).
[369] Plutarch, _Quæstiones conviviales_, iii, 10, 3; _idem_, _Quæstiones
Romanæ_, 77. See further, W. H. Roscher, _Juno und Hera_, Leipzig, 1875,
pp. 40-59; _idem_, _Über Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 55-61; _idem_,
“Mondgöttin,” _Ausführliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen
Mythologie_, ii, coll. 3150 _sqq._
[370] Sébillot, _op. cit._, i, 41.
[371] E. H. Man, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1883,
xii, 337; Sheldon Dibble, _History of the Sandwich Islands_, Lahainaluna,
1843, p. 109; N. B. Dennys, _The Folk-lore of China_, London, 1876, p.
118; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, Boston, 1898,
p. 358.
[372] H. A. Hazen, “The Origin and Value of Weather Lore,” _Journal
of American Folk-lore_, 1900, xiii, 191-198; E. G. Dexter, _Weather
Influences_, New York, 1904, pp. 10-26.
[373] Payne, _op. cit._, i, 547 _sq._; Sir E. B. Tylor, _Primitive
Culture_,⁴ London, 1903, i, 130; W. G. Black, _Folk-medicine_, London,
1883, pp. 124 _sqq._; A. E. Crawley, “Dew,” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics_, iv, 698-701.
[374] Roscher, _Über Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 49 _sqq._, 61-67. The
New Zealanders believed that it was in the night that everything grew (R.
Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, London, 1855, p. 175). The single Old Testament
passage which may possibly embody a like conception is _Deuteronomy_,
xxxiii, 14: “and for the precious things put forth by the moon.” See W.
von Baudissin, _Jahve et Moloch_, Leipzig, 1874, p. 24.
[375] For many illustrations see Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,³ ii,
131 _sqq._; J. Grimm, _Teutonic Mythology_, London, 1883, ii, 708-716.
[376] Gellius, _Noctes Atticæ_, xx, 8: _Eadem autem ipsa, quæ crescente
luna gliscunt, deficiente contra defiunt_.
[377] _The Todas_, London, 1906, p. 411.
[378] E. H. Man, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1883,
xii, 152 _sq._ It is also said of the Andamanese that they do no work,
except what is noiseless, between dawn and sunrise (_ibid._).
[379] Peter Dobell, _Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia_, London, 1830,
ii, 16.
[380] Joannes de Plano Carpini, in R. Hakluyt, _The Principal
Navigations, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation_, i, 141
_sq._ (Glasgow reprint, 1903-1905).
[381] Mungo Park, _Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa_, London,
1816, i, 266.
[382] L. G. Binger, _Du Niger au golfe de Guinée_, Paris, 1892, ii, 116.
[383] A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi_, Oxford, 1908, pp. 52, 60, 71.
[384] J. Sibree, “Malagasy Folk-lore and Popular Superstitions,”
_Folk-lore Record_, 1879, ii, 32.
[385] _De bello Gallico_, i, 50.
[386] _Germania_, 11. The rule of the Spartans never to march out to war
before the full moon (Herodotus, vi, 106; Pausanias, i, 28, 4) prevented
them from sending aid to the Athenians at the time of the battle of
Marathon. Though the Spartans always knew how to make use of their
religious scruples, during their festivals they really did ostentatiously
abstain from expeditions which might have been profitable to them. See A.
Holm, _History of Greece_, London, 1895, ii, 26, referring to Thucydides,
iv, 5, v, 75.
[387] Kuhn and Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche_,
Leipzig, 1848, p. 457.
[388] The Rev. John Grant, in Sir John Sinclair’s _The Statistical
Account of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1794, xii, 457. See also Charles Rogers,
_Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Character_,² London, 1865, p. 172 (as
to Orkney). In the Calendar of Coligny, the most important of the Celtic
inscriptions of ancient Gaul, the lunation is divided into two parts by
the full moon, and nearly all the important activities of the month are
crowded into the first fortnight, apparently because of the ill luck
associated with a waning moon. See Sir John Rhŷs, “The Coligny Calendar,”
_Proceedings of the British Academy_, 1909-1910, pp. 221, 265. It has
been pointed out that most of the Greek festivals known to us fell in the
first half of the month, and especially on the twelfth day. “Zugrunde
liegt die weit verbreitete Vorstellung, dass alles, was gedeihen und
zunehmen soll, während des zunehmenden Mondes vorgenommen werden soll”
(M. P. Nilsson in _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, 1911, xiv, 441
_sq._).
[389] J. T. Bent, _The Cyclades_, London, 1885, p. 438.
[390] John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_, edited by J.
Britten, London, 1881, p. 85.
[391] On the superstitions attaching to eclipses, generally, see R.
Lasch, “Die Finsternisse in der Mythologie und im religiösen Brauch der
Völker,” _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, 1900, iii, 97-152.
[392] W. E. H. Barrett, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1911, xli, 35.
[393] Hodson, _Nāga Tribes_, pp. 166 _sq._ See above, pp. 50 _sq._
[394] Rivers, _op. cit._, pp. 580, 592.
[395] _Madras Weekly Mail_, 15th October, 1908, quoted by Edgar Thurston,
_Omens and Superstitions of Southern India_, London and Leipzig, 1912, p.
44.
[396] R. G. Chaube, “Some of the Most Popular Beliefs and Superstitions
of the Hindus of Northern India,” _Journal of the Anthropological Society
of Bombay_, v, 326.
[397] W. Crooke, _The Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_,²
Westminster, 1896, i, 21 _sqq._; compare _idem_, _Natives of Northern
India_, London, 1907, p. 203. See also H. G. Rose, “Hindu Pregnancy
Observances in the Punjab,” _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1905, xxxv, 277 _sq._
[398] John Barrow, _Travels in China_, London, 1804, p. 287.
[399] Thucydides, vii, 50; Plutarch, _Nicias_, 23.
[400] J. Buxtorf, _Synagoga Judaica_,³ Basel, 1680, p. 477: _Defectum
lunæ pro pessimo habent signo, quod aliquid mali et inauspicati ab
hostibus et inimicis suis portendat. Ideo ejusmodi die animas vulgo
jejunio affligunt et ab hostibus suis a Deo defendi postulant._
[401] Above, p. 134. During a solar eclipse Swabian peasants totally
abandon their usual occupations and shut up their cattle in the stalls
(A. Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_, Freiburg-i.-B., 1861-1862,
i, 189). In Ober-Pfalz and Bohemia at such a time it is believed to be
dangerous to eat anything or even to go outside the house, unless one’s
mouth is securely covered with a cloth (Wuttke-Meyer, _op. cit._, p. 302).
[402] C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of A-Kamba and other East African Tribes_,
Cambridge, 1910, p. 53.
[403] W. S. Routledge and Katherine Routledge, _With a Prehistoric
People_, London, 1910, p. 284.
[404] W. W. A. Fitzgerald, _Travels in the Coastlands of British East
Africa_, London, 1898, p. 111, quoting W. E. Taylor, _Vocabulary of the
Giryama Language_, London, 1897. The name of these rest days—_jumwa_—is
Arabic; see above, p. 107 _n._²
[405] P. B. Du Chaillu, _In African Forest and Jungle_, New York, 1903,
pp. 96 _sq._
[406] Horace Waller, editor, _The Last Journals of David Livingstone in
Central Africa_, New York, 1875, p. 273.
[407] J. Y. Gibson, _The Story of the Zulus_, London, 1911, p. 175.
[408] Gengnagel, “Volksglaube und Wahrsagerei an der Westküste Indiens,”
_Ausland_, 1891, lxiv, 871 _sq._ Another observer declares that if a cow
calves on the new-moon day, her milk, it is believed, will kill the owner
(P. Kershasp, “Some Superstitions prevailing among the Canarese-speaking
People of Southern India,” _Journal of the Anthropological Society of
Bombay_, vii, 84).
[409] R. B. Bainbridge, in _Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_,
1907, ii, 50.
[410] J. Wilson, in _Indian Antiquary_, 1897, xxvi, 308 (from _Punjab
Notes and Queries_, 1883).
[411] M. Jastrow, _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia
and Assyria_, New York, 1911, pp. 214, 333 _sqq._; _idem_, _Die Religion
Babyloniens und Assyriens_, Giessen, 1905-1912, i, 440, ii, 510 _sqq._
Compare L. W. King, _Babylonian Magic and Sorcery_, London, 1896, pp. 5
_sq._
[412] I. Goldziher, in _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, 1910, xiii, 44
_n._⁴ For the Abyssinian beliefs see E. Littmann, _ibid._, 1908, xi, 314
_sq._
[413] E. Rhode, _Psyche_,⁶ Tübingen, 1910, i, 234 _n._¹, 269 _n._²;
E. Caillemer, in Daremberg and Saglio’s _Dictionnaire des antiquités
grecques et romaines_, i, 332. G. F. Schoemann denies that the ἀσέλινοι
were truly ill-omened, since there are instances of popular assemblies
being fixed for these days (_Griechische Alterthümer_,⁴ edited by J. H.
Lipsius, Berlin, 1897-1902, ii, 457 _n._⁴). It would seem, however, that
the Athenians, like the Romans, sometimes distinguished between days
popularly considered unlucky and those officially recognized as such in
the state calendars. Friday is for us a most unlucky day, but, excepting
Good Friday, it is not a _dies non_.
[414] Roscher, _Über Selene und Verwandtes_, pp. 46 _sqq._ The interlunar
days were selected by the ancients for the celebration of the sacred
marriages of the gods and goddesses and, particularly, of the sun and
moon. At least from the time of Thales the conjunction of the two
luminaries was indicated by the same term σύνοδος (_coitus_) which was
applied to the act of procreation (_ibid._, pp. 76 _sqq._).
[415] T. F. T. Dyer, _English Folklore_, London, 1878, p. 41; Thomas
Hardy, _The Return of the Native_, London, 1895, p. 29.
[416] H. A. Hazen, in _Journal of American Folk-lore_, 1900, xiii, 192.
American folklore contains the injunction never to kill cattle or pigs,
or even wild game, by the “dark of the moon”; it is most unlucky, and the
meat will come to no good (Bergen, _Current Superstitions_, p. 121).
[417] W. Smythe and F. Lowe, _Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para_,
London, 1836, p. 230.
[418] Father G. Boscana, “Chinigchinich,” in _Life in California by an
American_, New York, 1846, pp. 298 _sq._
[419] Jonathan Carver, _Travels through the Interior Parts of North
America_,³ London, 1781, pp. 250, 252.
[420] W. Bartram, in _Transactions of the American Ethnological Society_,
1853, iii, pt. i, 26.
[421] Merolla, “Voyage to Congo,” in Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_,
xvi, 273.
[422] Mungo Park, _op. cit._, i, 265.
[423] G. W. Stow, _The Native Races of South Africa_, London, 1905, p.
112. For further examples of new-moon and full-moon celebrations see P.
Kolben, _The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_, London, 1731, i,
96 (Hottentots); J. Bonwick, _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_,
London, 1870, pp. 186 _sqq._; Seligmann, _Melanesians of British New
Guinea_, p. 193 (Koita); Carl Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre unter den Kannibalen
der Salomo-Inseln_, Dresden, 1903, p. 163 (Shortland Island); Taylor,
_Te Ika A Maui_, p. 93 (Maori); Turner, _Samoa_, p. 67; A. E. Jenks, in
_Ethnological Survey Publications_, i, 206 (Bontoc Igorot of Luzon); V.
Solomon, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1902, xxxii, 213
(Nicobarese); W. Bogoras, in _Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History_, xi, 378 (Chukchi); J. v. Klaproth, _Reise in den Kaukasus und
nach Georgien_, Halle, 1814, ii, 602 (Osetes); A. von Humboldt, _Vues des
Cordillères_, Paris, 1816, ii, 244 (Muysca of Colombia).
[424] Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,³ ii, 140.
[425] The vice of seeking particularistic explanations of widespread
social phenomena is illustrated by Nielsen, who, with misdirected
ingenuity, has argued that the early Semites founded their Sabbaths
on the observation that the moon (conceived as a divinity) rests
four times in a lunation. Days on which the deity rested were to be
likewise observed by his worshippers as days of rest (D. Nielsen, _Die
altarabische Mondreligion und die mosaische Überlieferung_, Strassburg,
1904, pp. 63 _sqq._). It is true that the moon looks full for a day or
two before and for a day or two after she is full; similarly, the changes
in her form at the beginning of a lunation are scarcely perceptible.
The moon, therefore, might be said to “rest” at these two periods. But
neither astronomical science nor untutored observation lends any support
to the idea that the moon “rests” at the close of each and every phase.
Such a hypothesis, were it true, would not account for the other forms
of abstinence, in addition to the cessation of labour, which occur in
connection with the moon’s changes. And, as we shall see, the observance
of lunar taboos may be quite dissociated from true moon-worship and
probably long antedates the latter cult.
[426] Above, pp. 14 _sq._, 20, 32 _and_ _n._², 34 and _n._¹, 37, 52 _n._¹
[427] Lieutenant Farewell, in W. F. W. Owen, _Narrative of Voyages to
explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar_, London, 1833, ii,
397; compare Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_, London, 1904, p. 110.
[428] G. W. Stow, _The Native Races of South Africa_, London, 1905, p.
414.
[429] _Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa_,²⁵ New York,
1870, p. 255.
[430] John Campbell, _Travels in South Africa_, London, 1822, ii, 205.
[431] L. Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_, London, 1900, pp. 85 _sq._
[432] _Ibid._, p. 295.
[433] J. F. Cunningham, _Uganda and its Peoples_, London, 1905, p. 294.
[434] Above, p. 136.
[435] Hobley, _op. cit._, p. 104.
[436] John Roscoe, _The Baganda_, London, 1911, pp. 297, 299, 428;
_idem_, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1902, xxxii, 76.
[437] Roscoe, _Baganda_, pp. 320 _sqq._; _idem_, “Python Worship in
Uganda,” _Man_, 1909, ix, 88 _sqq._
[438] _Idem_, _Baganda_, pp. 249 _sq._
[439] Mrs. A. B. Fisher, _Twilight Tales of the Black Baganda_, London
[1912], pp. 37 _sq._
[440] J. H. Speke, _Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile_,
Edinburgh, 1863, p. 523.
[441] _Ibid._, p. 259. According to Speke this custom is also observed by
the king of Uganda, who, on the first day after the appearance of the new
moon, examines and arranges his _mapembe_, or fetishes (_ibid._, p. 372).
[442] The Mendi of the hinterland of Sierra Leone are said to hold a
new-moon festival and at it to abstain from all work, “alleging that
if they infringed this rule corn and rice would grow red, the new moon
being a ‘day of blood.’” Ellis, who cites this instance without giving
his authority, adds the further fact that the Mendi recognize no weeks
(_Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, p. 146).
[443] _Ibid._ Ellis presented his arguments more fully in an article “On
the Origin of Weeks and Sabbaths,” _Popular Science Monthly_, 1895, xlvi,
329-343.
[444] W. Crooke, _The Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_,²
Westminster, 1896, i, 23.
[445] Gengnagel, “Volksglaube und Wahrsagerei an der Westküste Indiens,”
_Ausland_, 1891, lxiv, 871 _sq._
[446] F. Jagor, in _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für
Anthropologie, Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte_, 1876, p. (201) (bound with
_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, vol. viii).
[447] Thurston, _Omens and Superstitions of Southern India_, p. 22.
[448] _Rig-Veda_, i, 9, 1, i, 94, 4 (transl. H. Grassmann, ii, 8,
95); _Atharva-Veda_, vii, 79, 3, vii, 80, 1-4 (transl. W. D. Whitney,
pp. 444-446); Martin Haug, _The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rig-Veda_,
Bombay, 1863, ii, 5; A. Weber, “Zur Kenntnis des vedische Opferrituals,”
_Indische Studien_, 1868, x, 329 _sqq._; H. Zimmer, _Altindisches
Leben_, Berlin, 1879, pp. 364 _sq._; A. Hillebrandt, _Das altindische
Neu- und Vollmondsopfer_, Jena, 1879; _idem_, in Bühler’s _Grundriss der
indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde_, Strassburg, 1901, ii, pt.
ii, pp. 75 _sq._ The new-moon day was called _darśa_, the day of the full
moon, _pūrṇamāsa_.
[449] The first day was called _upavasatha_, a fasting or fast day
(compare Sanskrit _upa_, an adverbial adjunct, signifying to refrain
from, abstain, hence, to fast). The second day’s ceremony was known as
the _darśapūrṇamāsa_ sacrifice.
[450] _Satapatha-Brâhmana_, i, 1, 1, 1 _sqq._ (_Sacred Books of the
East_, xii, 1 _sq._; compare also 374 _sq._).
[451] A. Hillebrandt, _Vedische Mythologie_, Breslau, 1891-1899, i, 267
_sqq._, 313, 366 _sqq._; ii, 209-240.
[452] A. Bergaigne, _La religion védique_, Paris, 1878, i, 157 _sqq._;
A. A. Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_, Strassburg, 1897, pp. 112 _sqq._;
E. W. Hopkins, _The Religions of India_, Boston, 1895, pp. 112 _sqq._;
J. Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_,³ London, 1884, v, 270 _sq._ Compare
_Satapatha-Brâhmana_, i, 6, 4, 5 _sqq._ (_S. B. E._, xii, 176 _sqq._).
[453] _Grihya-sûtra of Gobhila_, i, 5, 1-26 (_S. B. E._, xxx, 25-28).
[454] _Institutes of Vishnu_, xlvii, 3 (_S. B. E._, vii, 152).
[455] _Laws of Manu_, xi, 217 _sqq._ (_S. B. E._, xxv, 474 _sq._).
[456] _Ibid._, iv, 128 (_S. B. E._, xxv, 149).
[457] _Vishńu Puráńa_, iii, 11 (the translation by H. H. Wilson, edited
by F. Hall, London, 1865, iii, 132 _sq._).
[458] _Ibid._, ii, 6 (Wilson-Hall, ii, 219).
[459] J. A. Dubois, _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_,³ Oxford,
1906, p. 270.
[460] _Laws of Manu_, iv, 113 _sq._ (_S. B. E._, xxv, 147).
[461] _Ibid._, iv, 101 _sqq._ (_S. B. E._, xxv, 144 _sqq._).
[462] Gautama, xvi, 22, 35-37 (_S. B. E._, ii, 258 _sqq._). Compare
Âpastamba, i, 3, 9, 28: “at the new moon (he shall not study) for two
days and nights” (_S. B. E._, ii, 36).
[463] _Vishńu Puráńa_, iii, 12 (Wilson-Hall, iii, 143).
[464] Sir M. Monier-Williams, _Brāhmanism and Hindūism_,⁴ New York, 1891,
p. 433.
[465] H. H. Wilson, “The Religious Festivals of the Hindus,” in _Essays
and Lectures chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus_, edited by R. Rost,
London, 1862, ii, 194.
[466] H. H. Wilson, “The Religious Festivals of the Hindus,” in _Essays
and Lectures chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus_, edited by R. Rost,
London, 1862, ii, 197.
[467] _Ibid._, p. 199.
[468] _Sûtrakṛtâṅga_, ii, 7, 17; compare, ii, 2, 76 (_S. B. E._, xlv, 428
_sq._, 383).
[469] _Uttarâdhyayana_, v, 23; compare ix, 42 (_S. B. E._, xlv, 23, 39).
[470] H. Jacobi, _Gaina Sûtras_, Oxford, 1895, pp. xix, 23 _n._² (_S. B.
E._, vol. xlv).
[471] Margaret Stevenson, “Festivals and Fasts (Jain),” Hastings’s
_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, v, 875 _sq._
[472] H. Kern, _Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in Indien_, Leipzig,
1884, ii, 256 _sqq._; _idem_, _Manual of Indian Buddhism_, Strassburg,
1896, pp. 99 _sq._; R. C. Childers, _A Dictionary of the Pali Language_,
London, 1875, _s.v._ _uposatha_.
[473] _Mahâvagga_, ii, 1, 1-4 (_S. B. E._, xiii, 239 _sq._; compare p. x).
[474] _Ibid._, ii, 1, 4 (_S. B. E._, xiii, 240). This rule is to be
understood as requiring an assembly to be held on the fourteenth _or_ the
fifteenth of each half-month, according as the month had twenty-nine or
thirty days. In other words an _uposatha_ service on the fourteenth day
of a short month was to be followed by a celebration on the fifteenth
of the following long month. Compare _ibid._, ii, 34, 1. The important
word “half,” which has been inserted above, was omitted by an unfortunate
oversight in the translation of this passage from the _Mahâvagga_, as
given in the _Sacred Books of the East_. It appears, however, in Mr. H.
C. Warren’s rendering of the same passage (_Buddhism in Translations_,
Cambridge [Mass.], 1909, p. 404).
[475] _Sutta Nipâta_, ii, 14, 26 (_S. B. E._, x, pt. ii, 66).
[476] The eighth day of the waning moon (_áṣṭakā_) is distinctly
mentioned in the Vedas, as forming with new moon and full moon the
regular festival periods. Compare _Atharva-Veda_, xv, 16, 2 (transl.
W. D. Whitney, p. 790); Zimmer, _op. cit._, p. 365; H. Oldenberg, _Die
Religion des Veda_, Berlin, 1894, p. 439. Of these, the full-moon
day seems to have enjoyed most importance (Oldenberg, _loc. cit._),
and similarly in Buddhism. Compare _Mahâ-Sudassana Sutta_, i, 11:
“On the Sabbath day, on the day of full moon” (_S. B. E._, xi, 251
_sq._). Elsewhere the _uposatha_ service is referred particularly to
the fifteenth day of the month, “it being full moon” (_Sutta Nipâta_,
iii, 12), prœm. (_S. B. E._, x, pt. ii, 131 _sq._). In very early
times the Hindus had named and deified as goddesses the four phases
of the moon. See _Rig-Veda_, ii, 32 (transl. H. Grassmann, i, 41);
_Satapatha-Brâhmana_, ix, 5, 1, 38 (_S. B. E._, xliii, 264); C. Lassen,
_Indische Alterthumskunde_,² Leipzig and London, 1867-1874, i, 986.
[477] _Mahâvagga_, ii, 4, 1-2 (_S. B. E._, xiii, 246 _sq._). The
_patimokkha_ is one of the oldest parts of the Buddhist canonical
compositions. The Pali version has been translated in full by Professors
Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg (_S. B. E._, vol. xiii) and the part
for monks, by J. F. Dickson (_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_,
1876, n.s., viii, 62-130). For a description of these ceremonies as
witnessed March 27, 1893, at the Malwatta monastery in Kandy see E. M.
Bowden, “The _uposatha_ and _upasampadâ_ Ceremonies,” _ibid._, 1893,
n.s., xxv, 159-161. Mr. Bowden notes that at the Malwatta monastery the
_uposatha_ service is held more frequently on the day which precedes the
new and the full moon than on the new and full-moon days.
[478] _Sutta Nipâta_, ii, 14, 19-26 (_S. B. E._, x, pt. ii, 65 _sqq._).
See also T. W. Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, London, 1890, pp. 137 _sqq._;
Childers, _op. cit._, _s.v._ _sīlaṁ_. The prohibition of drinking
intoxicating liquors was directed against the ancient _soma_ sacrifice on
the second day of the _upavasatha_ ceremony. See _Satapatha-Brâhmana_, 1,
6, 4, 5 _sqq._ (_S. B. E._, xii, 176 _sqq._). On the other hand the last
precept is identical with one of the regulations for the _upavasatha_,
where the celebrant is distinctly enjoined to sleep on the ground (or a
shake-down of grass, a blanket). See _Satapatha-Brâhmana_, i, 1, 1, 11
(_S. B. E._, xii, 6).
[479] Mahony, in _Asiatic Researches_, 1803, vii, 40 _sq._; Edward Upham,
_Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon_, London, 1833, iii, 161 _sqq._;
R. S. Hardy, _Eastern Monachism_, London, 1850, pp. 236 _sqq._; _idem_,
_Manual of Buddhism_,² London, 1880, pp. 22, 50, 52; C. F. Köppen, _Die
Religion des Buddha und ihre Entstehung_, Berlin, 1857-1859, i, 563
_sq._; D. J. Gogerly, “The Laws of the Buddhist Priesthood,” _Journal
of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1858-1859, iii,
253-261. By the Kandian, who occupy the interior of Ceylon, not only the
_poya_ days, but all unlucky days (_vitti_) as well, are observed with
abstinence from agricultural labour (P. Kehelpannala, in _Journal of the
Anthropological Institute_, 1896, xxv, 108).
[480] Michael Symes, _An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava_,
London, 1800, p. 335. See further Hiram Cox, _Journal of a Residence in
the Burman Empire_, London, 1821, p. 241; Sangermano, _A Description of
the Burmese Empire_, translated by W. Tandy, Rome, 1833, p. 92; C. J. F.
S. Forbes, _British Burma_, London, 1878, pp. 169 _sqq._
[481] Shway Yoe [Sir J. G. Scott], _The Burman: his Life and Notions_,³
London, 1910, pp. 217-220. The Tungthu of Tenasserim have borrowed these
“duty days” from the Burmese (_Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan
States_, edited by Scott and Hardiman, Rangoon, 1900, pt. i, vol. i, p.
558).
[482] F. H. Turpin, _Histoire civile et naturelle du royaume de Siam_,
Paris, 1771, i, 45 _sq._ The “fourth day” of the moon must here be
counted from the astronomical new moon. The _uposatha_ in Siam, as in
Ceylon and Burma, falls regularly on the eighth and fifteenth days of the
waxing moon and on the eighth and fourteenth or fifteenth days of the
waning moon.
[483] J. B. Pallegoix, _Description du royaume Thai ou Siam_, Paris,
1854, i, 249.
[484] John Crawfurd, _Journal of an Embassy_, London, 1830, ii, 75; Sir
John Bowring, _The Kingdom and People of Siam_, London, 1857, i, 158.
[485] J. G. D. Campbell, _Siam in the Twentieth Century_, London, 1904,
p. 224 _n._¹; G. E. Gerini, “Festivals and Fasts (Siamese),” Hastings’s
_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, v, 885.
[486] J. Moura, _Le royaume de Cambodge_, Paris, 1883, i, 321. The Malays
of the Malacca Peninsula regard the fourteenth and fifteenth days of each
lunar month as unlucky. On these two days no work in the rice fields
is allowed, a prohibition which only increases the native tendency to
laziness (C. O. Blagden, “Notes on the Folk-lore and Popular Religion
of the Malays,” _Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society_, 1896, no. 29, p. 6).
[487] E. Schlaginweit, _Buddhism in Tibet_, Leipzig and London, 1863, p.
237.
[488] L. A. Waddell, _The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism_, London, 1895,
p. 501; W. W. Rockhill, in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1891,
n.s., xxiii, 207 _n._³
[489] Marco Polo refers to five days or four days or three days in each
month when the lamas or clergy of Tibetan Buddhism shed no blood and
abstain from animal food (Sir Henry Yule, _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_,³
London, 1903, i, 220, 223). Compare N. Prejevalsky, _Mongolia_, London,
1876, i, 65.
[490] Köppen, _op. cit._, i, 564.
[491] P. S. Pallas, _Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen
Reichs_, Frankfort, 1776, i, 295.
[492] Joseph Edkins, _Chinese Buddhism_,² London, 1893, p. 206. In
Buddhist monasteries the _patimokkha_ is regularly recited at new moon
and full moon. The ceremony is known as _posadha_ (J. J. M. de Groot,
“Buddhism in China,” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_,
iii, 554).
[493] J. H. Gray, _China_, London, 1878, i, 263 _n._¹; C. Pitou, _La
Chine_, Lausanne and Paris [1902], pp. 27 _sqq._ See also W. Grube,
_Religion und Kultus der Chinesen_, Leipzig, 1910, p. 66; J. D. Ball,
_The Celestial and his Religions_, Hongkong, 1906, p. 25; J. Edkins,
_Religion in China_,² London, 1878, pp. 48 _sq._
[494] E. Kaempfer, _History of Japan_, ii, 21 _sq._ (Glasgow reprint,
1906).
[495] R. Friederich, in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1876,
n.s., viii, 197 _sq._ Most priests also observe with prayer and fasting
every fifth day (_kaliwon_) of the Javanese five-day market week, which
has been introduced into Bali (Friederich, _loc. cit._).
[496] E. H. Man, in _Indian Antiquary_, 1897, xxvi, 269 _n._³⁰ According
to this account the Nicobarese do not observe new-moon ceremonies. Other
authorities, however, refer to sacrifices and celebrations at this
time. See V. Solomon, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1902, xxxii, 204, 213; W. Svoboda, in _Internationales Archiv für
Ethnographie_, 1893, vi, 22.
[497] Above, pp. 40 _sqq._
[498] _Yasna_, i, 8 (so also _ibid._, ii, 8; compare _Yast_ vii, 4). See
L. H. Gray, “Festivals and Feasts (Iranian),” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia
of Religion and Ethics_, v, 872; L. H. Mills, in _Sacred Books of the
East_, xxxi, 198, 205; W. Geiger, _Civilization of the Eastern Irānians_,
London, 1885, i, 146 _n._¹ The term _vishaptatha_, here translated “the
intervening seventh” refers to the seventh day between the new moon (on
the 1st) and the full moon (on the 15th), that is, to the 8th day of the
month (E. Bartholomae, _Altiranisches Wörterbuch_, Strassburg, 1904, col.
1472). The theories as to the meaning of _vishaptatha_, advanced by J.
Darmesteter, have not won the acceptance of scholars (_Sacred Books of
the East_, xxiii, 90 _n._⁵; _Le Zend-Avesta_, Paris, 1892-1893, i, 12
_n._³⁴).
[499] R. Roth, “Der Kalender des Avesta und die sogenannten _gahanbâr_,”
_Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, 1880, xxxiv,
710; L. H. Gray, “Der iranische Kalender,” Geiger and Kuhn’s _Grundriss
der iranischen Philologie_, ii, 675 _sq._ There is extant a Pehlevi
tract, said to have been composed in Persia during the fourth century
A.D., which mentions among other matters five days in every month,
namely, the 1st, 7th, 14th, 22d, and 30th, as times to be observed by
abstinence from all worldly business. The manuscript sets forth in
detail the peculiar virtues of all the days of one of the Zoroastrian
months. “Some are best for beginning a journey or voyage, others for
the regulation of matters of domestic economy, some again for social
gatherings and festivities, and others again for the pursuit of learning,
while not a few are reserved for rest and pious contemplation.” These
precepts are no longer observed; in fact, their very existence is unknown
to most Parsis at the present day. See D. F. Karaka, _History of the
Parsis_, London, 1884, i, 132 _sqq._
[500] _Pyramid Texts_, § 521 (= Teti, l. 12); compare _ibid._, § 1453 (=
Pepi, l. 657 = Mernere, ll. 763-764). Professor J. H. Breasted of the
University of Chicago has very kindly furnished me with a translation of
these passages, based on the monumental edition of the texts prepared by
K. Sethe (_Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte_, Leipzig, 1908-1910).
[501] _The Book of the Dead_ (Theban Recension), chs. cxxxv, cxl (_The
Chapters of Coming Forth by Day_, translated by E. A. W. Budge, London,
1898, pp. 218, 230). See also H. Brugsch, “Über die Hieroglyphe des
Neumondes und ihre verschiedenen Bedeutungen,” _Zeitschrift der deutschen
morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, 1856, x, 676.
[502] J. H. Breasted, _Ancient Records of Egypt_, Chicago, 1906, i,
285. See further E. Mahler, _Études sur le calendrier égyptien_, Paris,
1907, p. 128; _idem_, in _Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen
Gesellschaft_, 1908, lxii, 35.
[503] Breasted, _op. cit._, ii, 184; for an earlier translation see S.
Birch, in _Records of the Past_, ii, 43.
[504] H. Brugsch, _Thesaurus inscriptionum Ægyptiacarum_, Leipzig,
1883-1891, pt. i, 30 _sqq._, 49 _sqq._; _idem_, _Die Ägyptologie_,
Leipzig, 1891, pp. 332 _sq._
[505] Brugsch, _Thesaurus_, pt. i, 52; _idem_, _Ägyptologie_, p. 332.
[506] Compare _idem_, _Ägyptologie_, p. 334; E. Meyer, “Ägyptische
Chronologie,” _Abhandlungen der königlich-preussischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften_, 1904, p. 7.
[507] Herodotus, ii, 47; Plutarch, _De Iside et Osiride_, 8, 43, 52;
Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_,³ ii, 129-131; Budge, _Osiris and the
Egyptian Resurrection_, i, 384-396.
[508] J. Meursius, _Græcia feriata, sive de festis Græcorum_, Lugduni
Batavorum, 1619, pp. 210-214; F. G. Welcker, _Griechische Götterlehre_,
Göttingen, 1857, i, 554 _sq._; W. H. Roscher, _Über Selene und
Verwandtes_, pp. 110 _sq._; _idem_, in _Philologus_, 1898, lvii, 216,
218; E. Saglio, “Noumenia,” Daremberg and Saglio’s _Dictionnaire des
antiquités grecques et romaines_, iv, 108. The word νουμηνία occasionally
was used in the sense of the true or astronomical new moon (Thucydides,
ii, 28).
[509] _Odyssey_, xxi, 258 _sq._: νῦν μὲν γὰρ κατὰ δῆμον ἑορτὴ τοῖο θεοῖο
ἁγνή· τίς δέ κε τόξα τιταίνοιτ’; Compare _ibid._, xiv, 158-162, xx, 156,
276-278.
[510] _Opera et dies_, 770.
[511] Aristophanes, _Nubes_, 615-619; _idem_, _Acharnenses_, 999;
_idem_, _Vespæ_, 96; Demosthenes, _Adv. Aristogiton_, i, 99; Athenæus,
_Deipnosophistæ_, xii, 76; Plutarch, _Quæstiones Romanæ_, 25; _idem_, _De
vitando ære alieno_, 2; Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii, 16; Theophrastus,
_Characteres_, 14; Lucian, _Icaromenippus_, 13; _idem_, _Lexiphanes_, 6.
[512] Aristophanes, _Vespæ_, 171; _idem_, _Equites_, 43 _sq._; Alciphron,
_Epistolæ_, iii, 38; Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii, 129; Proclus, on
Hesiod, _Opera et dies_, 780; Suidas, _s.v._ νουμηνία (ed. G. Bernhardy,
Halle, 1853, ii, 1010).
[513] _Hymni Homerici_, xxxii, 11; Plutarch, _De gloria Atheniensis_,
7; _idem_, _Dion_, 23. Hesiod (_op. cit._, 819, compare 794 _sqq._)
describes the 14th of the month as “above all a holy day” (περὶ πάντων
ἱερὸν ἦμαρ).
[514] Above, p. 130.
[515] Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i, 15, 9.
[516] Ovid, _Fasti_, i, 47; Plutarch, _Quæstiones Romanæ_, 24; Vergil,
_Bucolica_, i, 43 _sq._; Horace, _Carmina_, iii, 23, 1 _sq._
[517] Macrobius, _op. cit._, i, 15, 15; Ovid, _op. cit._, i, 48 _sq._;
Lydus, _De mensibus_, iii, 7.
[518] Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, p. 369; compare T.
Mommsen, in _Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum_, i, pt. i,² 297.
[519] Above, pp. 80 _sq._, 94.
[520] Varro, _De lingua Latina_, 29; Ovid, _Fasti_, i, 59 _sq._; Livy,
vi, 1; Plutarch, _Quæstiones Romanæ_, 25; Gellius, _Noctes Atticæ_, iv,
9, 5; Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i, 16, 18. These days were also described
as _atri vel vitiosi_. The greater number of them were available for
judicial business, but not for meetings of the assemblies (_dies fasti
non comitiales_). Many Romans also regarded as ominous the fourth day
before the Kalends, Nones, and Ides; according to one account because
the battle of Cannæ took place on the fourth day before the Nones of the
month Sextilis (Gellius, _op. cit._, v, 17, 3).
[521] Verrius Flaccus, _ap._ Gellius, _op. cit._, v, 17; Macrobius, _op.
cit._, i, 16, 21.
[522] On this point I am happy to find myself in agreement with Dr. W.
Warde Fowler, who also regards the traditional explanation of the _dies
postriduani_ as an ætiological myth. “The fact that the authorities
of the state had made one or two days _religiosi_ as anniversaries of
disasters, supplied a handy explanation for a number of other _dies
religiosi_ of which the true explanation had been entirely lost; but that
there was such a true explanation, resting on very primitive beliefs, I
have very little doubt” (_The Religious Experience of the Roman People_,
London, 1911, p. 40). Dr. Fowler in a letter (under date Dec. 9, 1911)
tells me that he regards as “quite probable” the suggestion in the
text that these days were originally tabooed in consequence of lunar
superstitions attaching to them.
[523] _Geographica_, iii, 4, 16.
[524] _Germania_, 9, 11.
[525] Isidorus Hispalensis, _Etymologiæ sive origines_, v, 33.
[526] J. K. Fotheringham, “Calendar (Introductory),” Hastings’s
_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, iii, 61-64; F. K. Ginzel,
_Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, Leipzig,
1906-1911, ii, 121-159; E. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_,
Erster Band, Erste Hälfte, Berlin, 1907, pp. 231-243; R. Schram,
“Jahrform und Zeitrechnung verschiedener Völker,” _Mitteilungen der
kaiserlich-königlichen geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien_, 1884, xxvii,
481-498; M. Hubert, “Étude sommaire de la représentation du temps dans
la religion et la magie,” in Hubert and Mauss, _Mélanges d’histoire des
religions_, Paris, 1909, pp. 189-229.
[527] The lunar or synodic month, determined by the synodic revolution
of the moon, is the time between two successive conjunctions of that
luminary with the sun, and may be measured from new moon to new moon
or from full to full. It varies about thirteen hours by reason of
eccentricities of the moon’s orbit and of that of the earth about the
sun, but its mean value is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds.
The length of the “light month,” or period of the moon’s visibility,
though commonly taken at three days, is a variable quantity. It is the
usual practice to assume that the moon becomes visible on the first
evening when she is more than thirty hours old at sunset. Her mean age
when first seen is, therefore, 30 hours + 24/2 hours = 1 day, 18 hours.
See J. K. Fotheringham, “On the Smallest Visible Phase of the Moon,”
_Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_, 1910, lxx, 527-531.
[528] E. J. Payne, _History of the New World called America_, Oxford,
1892-1899, ii, 329, 331; E. Förstemann, in _Bulletin of the Bureau of
American Ethnology_, 1904, no. 28, p. 523 (Maya pre-solar calendar).
[529] Horapollo, _Hieroglyphica_, i, 4; compare H. Brugsch, in
_Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, 1856, x,
676; C. R. Lepsius, _Die Chronologie der Ägypter_, Berlin, 1849, i,
156 _sq._, 219; E. Meyer, “Ägyptische Chronologie,” _Abhandlungen der
königlich-preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften_, Berlin, 1904, pp.
5 _sqq._ Papyri discovered by Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie at Kahun,
belonging to the age of Sesostris III, show that a lunar year of three
hundred and fifty-five days was still recognized as late as the Twelfth
Dynasty. These papyri relate to the temple revenues, which the priests,
with characteristic religious conservatism, were accustomed to reckon
according to lunar months (seven of thirty days and five of twenty-nine
days). See L. Borchardt, in _Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache_, 1899,
xxxvii, 92-95.
[530] Below, pp. 226, 247.
[531] O. Schrader, _Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_,
translated by F. B. Jevons, London, 1890, p. 306; _idem_, _Reallexikon
der indogermanischen Altertumskunde_, Strassburg, 1901, p. 547.
[532] R. Andree, “Die Plejaden im Mythus und in ihrer Beziehung zum
Jahresbeginn und Landbau,” _Globus_, 1893, lxiv, 362-366; Sir J. G.
Frazer, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, London, 1912, i, 307-319;
E. Förstemann, “The Pleiades among the Mayas,” _Bulletin of the Bureau of
American Ethnology_, 1904, no. 28, pp. 523 _sq._
[533] The lunar year of twelve synodic months consists, exactly, of 354
days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 36 seconds. The Maori have a legend to the
effect that their ancient year contained ten months only, until a certain
teacher, full of divine wisdom, instructed them to make their year
twelve months long (E. Tregear, _The Maori Race_, Wanganui [N.Z.], 1904,
p. 143). The Chinese have a similar tradition of a ten-month year (H.
A. Giles, _A Glossary of References on Subjects connected with the Far
East_,³ Shanghai, 1900, p. 183). The Roman “year of Romulus” consisted
of ten months and (commonly) three hundred and four days (Censorinus,
_De die natali_, xx, 2-3; Lydus, _De mensibus_, i, 16). Sceptical modern
historians are inclined to dismiss the Roman tradition as a mere figment
of the imagination.
[534] The thirteenth month is referred to in the _Rig-Veda_ (i, 25,
8; transl. H. Grassmann, ii, 25) as the “later-born month”; compare
_Atharva-Veda_, v, 6, 4, xiii, 3, 8 (transl. W. D. Whitney, pp. 230,
729). This intercalary month bears a distinctly unfavourable character,
being regarded as unfit for any religious undertaking (Haug, _Aitareya
Brahmanam_, ii, 26). Among the Loango negroes the thirteenth month,
inserted every three years, is likewise regarded as an evil time (E.
Pechuël-Loesche, _op. cit._, pp. 138 _sq._).
[535] The old Roman arrangement of the months, though based on the
lunar year, is _sui generis_. Four of the twelve months, viz., March,
May, July, and October, had thirty-one days, and the rest twenty-nine
days, except February, which had twenty-eight days. All the months thus
had an odd number of days, save February, which was specially devoted
to purificatory ceremonies and the cult of the dead. This peculiar
arrangement appears to have been based on an old belief that odd numbers
are of good omen, even numbers, of ill omen (T. Mommsen, _Die römische
Chronologie bis auf Cæsar_, Berlin, 1858, p. 13; Marquardt-Wissowa,
_Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii,² 284). The superstition, alluded to
by Vergil in a famous line—_Numero deus impare gaudet_ (_Bucolica_,
viii, 75)—is supposed to have been derived from Pythagorean speculations
regarding the cosmic properties of numbers. It may better be considered
a genuinely Italian notion, since like beliefs are found in the folklore
of other peoples, notably the old Arabs and the modern Hindus. See I.
Goldziher, in _Globus_, 1901, lxxx, 31; Crooke, _Popular Religion and
Folk-lore of Northern India_,² ii, 51. The choice of 355 days, rather
than 354 days, as the length of the Roman lunar year, was undoubtedly
determined by the prevalence of the same superstition (Censorinus, _De
die natali_, xx, 4).
[536] This custom explains the widespread practice of beginning the civil
day at sunset or, more accurately, in the interval between the going-down
of the sun and complete darkness. The necessities of a calendar system
requiring that the first day of the month should be counted from the same
moment that the month itself is supposed to begin, it follows that the
other days of the month must also be calculated from evening to evening.
The noctidiurnal cycle is widespread throughout the lower culture, being
found, generally, among the North American Indians, the Melanesians and
Polynesians, and in Africa. The same cycle obtained among many peoples
of archaic civilization. The Babylonian day began with the evening, and
this is still the custom among the Arabs and throughout the Mohammedan
world. Modern Jewish communities, in beginning their ritual day in the
evening, retain a practice illustrated by several Old Testament passages
(_Genesis_, i, 5; _Psalms_, lv, 17). Various festivals and fasts, such
as the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
were so arranged as to begin and end with the evening. Among most of
the Indo-Germanic peoples the civil day, or nycthemeron, commenced at
sunset; and the practice, which still survives in Iceland, was not
abandoned in Italy and some other parts of Europe until about a century
ago. Our English words “fortnight” and “sennight” are reminiscent of
this ancient custom. See G. A. Wilken, “Het tellen bij nachten bij de
volken van het maleisch-polynesische ras,” _Bijdragen tot de taal- land-
en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, 1886, fifth series, pt. i,
378-392; A. Fischer, “‘Tag und Nacht’ im arabischen und die semitische
Tagesberechnung,” _Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse
der königlichsächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, 1909, xxvii,
741-758; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon_, p. 845; S. Reinach, “Die,” in
Daremberg and Saglio, _op. cit._, iii, 168 _sq._, G. Bilfinger, _Der
bürgerliche Tag_, Stuttgart, 1888.
[537] Rivers, _Todas_, pp. 590 _sqq._
[538] J. Sechefo, “The Twelve Lunar Months among the Basuto,”
_Anthropos_, 1909, iv, 931 _sqq._
[539] Below, pp. 184, 226 _sq._, 248 _sq._
[540] James Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, Melbourne, 1881, p. xcix.
[541] S. Gason, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1895,
xxiv, 174.
[542] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_,
London, 1897, pp. 25, 564 _sq._
[543] B. Hagen, _Unter den Papua’s_, Wiesbaden, 1899, p. 244.
[544] George Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, London, 1910, p. 332.
[545] V. de Rochas, _La Nouvelle-Calédonie_, Paris, 1862, p. 191.
[546] Nieuwenhuis, _op. cit._, i, 317.
[547] C. Bock, _Head-hunters of Borneo_,² London, 1882, p. 212.
[548] William Marsden, _The History of Sumatra_,³ London, 1811, p. 194;
compare B. Hagen, _Die Orang Kubu auf Sumatra_, Frankfurt-a.-M., 1908, p.
154.
[549] E. Modigliani, _Un viaggio a Nias_, Milan, 1890, pp. 4, 484; A.
Maass, _Bei liebenswürdigen Wilden_, Berlin, 1902, p. 93.
[550] E. H. Man, in _Indian Antiquary_, 1897, xxvi, 270 _sq._
[551] _Idem_, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1883, xii,
337.
[552] A. E. Jenks, in _Ethnological Survey Publications_, Manila, 1905,
i, 219; O. Scheerer, _ibid._, ii, 158.
[553] F. W. Christian, _The Caroline Islands_, London, 1899, pp. 387
_sq._, 392 _sqq._; M. Girschner, in _Baessler-Archiv_, 1911, ii, 175 _sq._
[554] The Maori counted twenty-eight “nights” of the moon, including:
1. _noni hope_, the moon is in the _reinga_, or underworld; 4. _he oho
ata_, the moon is visible; 5. _ouenuku_, it begins to rise a little way;
6. _maweti_, it rises still higher; 14. _he atua_, full; 19. _he ohika_,
the moon begins to wane; 24. _tanagaroa a roto_, it sinks into the sea;
28. _he o mutu_, it disappears (Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 177). To
the Society Islanders the fifteenth day was _omarae_, or the moon with
a round and full face; the thirtieth day, _oterieo_, was the time when
the moon dies or is changed (Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i, 87
_sq._). In the Hervey group several of the moon nights were sacred to the
gods. The twenty-eighth day was called _mauri_—ghost; the twenty-ninth,
_omutu_—ended; the thirtieth, _otire o avaiki_—lost in the depths of
_avaiki_, or Hades (W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_,
London, 1876, p. 318). For a table of the days of the moon’s age in the
Maori, Moriori, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Marquesan, and Rarotongan languages
see Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 666.
[555] Hollis, _Nandi_, pp. 95 _sq._
[556] Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind_, p. 186.
[557] J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_, Berlin, 1906, p. 556; L. Schultze,
_Aus Namaland und Kalahari_, Jena, 1907, p. 370. The Hottentots now use
the European week (Schultze, _op. cit._, p. 372).
[558] F. Krause, _In den Wildnissen Brasiliens_, Leipzig, 1911, p. 339.
[559] C. Thomas, “Calendar,” _Handbook of American Indians_, pt. i, 189
(_Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, no. 30).
[560] _Koran_, ii, 185. Even at the present time the south Arabians
determine the day of the month by observation of the moon’s phases, the
first quarter being called, for example, the seventh day, and the last
quarter, the twenty-first day (Nielsen, _Altarabische Mondreligion_, p.
85, referring to Dr. Glaser’s observations).
[561] The mean age of the moon when first seen being 30 hours + 24/2
hours = 1 day, 18 hours (above, p. 174 _n._¹), and the mean age of the
moon when full being (29 days, 12 + hours)/2 = 14 days, 18 hours, it
follows that the mean interval between the first appearance of the moon
and the full of the moon is about 13 days. “In other words the moon
becomes full on an average at the end of the thirteenth day and the
beginning of the fourteenth night. Hence, where the days are reckoned
from sunset, we should expect the fourteenth day of the month to be
regarded as the day of the full moon. And it is in fact one of the days
most commonly so regarded. The fifteenth is a date obtained more simply.
Fifteen is half thirty and, as the middle of the month, should be the
date of full moon. In calendars based on calculations the month is
frequently reckoned from the actual new moon, and in these the fifteenth
is more correct than the fourteenth for the mean date of full moon.” It
should be noted, also, that, as a general rule, the nearer the autumnal
equinox, the later the first appearance of the moon and the shorter
the interval between the visible new moon and full moon. If the first
appearance is late, as it often is in September, the moon might be full
on the night following the eleventh day. See J. K. Fotheringham, in
_Proceedings of the British Academy_, 1909-1910, pp. 283, 286.
[562] R. Thurnwald, _Forschungen auf den Salomo-Inseln und dem Bismarck
Archipel_, Berlin, 1912-1913, i, 330 _sq._
[563] E. Tregear, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1890,
xix, 114.
[564] L. H. Gray, “Calendar (Polynesian),” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics_, iii, 130; J. v. Brenner, _Besuch bei den Kannibalen
Sumatras_, Würzburg, 1894, p. 233; R. Friederich, in _Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society_, 1878, n.s., x, 93 _sq._; Modigliani, _op. cit._,
p. 464.
[565] A. Weber, in _Indische Studien_, 1853, ii, 166 _n._*; H. Zimmer,
_Altindisches Leben_, Berlin, 1879, p. 364; G. Thibaut, “Astronomie,
Astrologie, und Mathematik,” Bühler’s _Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde_, iii, pt. ix, 12. This lunar fortnight of
the Hindus attracted the attention of the Romans, and Quintus Curtius
speaks of it as a noteworthy fact (_Historiæ Alexandri Magni_, viii, 9).
References to it are also found in mediæval literature; compare Albîrûnî,
_op. cit._, i, 359.
[566] G. E. Balfour, _The Cyclopædia of India_,³ ii, 981; Sewell and
Dikshit, _The Indian Calendar_, London, 1896, p. 4.
[567] Childers, _Dictionary of the Pali Language_, _s.v._ _parācadasí_;
A. Cabaton, in Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, iii, 136
(as to the Siamese); Shway Yoe, _The Burman_,³ p. 550; A. Cabaton, in
Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, iii, 113 _sq._ (as to
the Cambodians, Chams, and Laotians); H. Vámbéry, _Die primitive Cultur
des turko-tatarischen Volkes_, Leipzig, 1879, p. 160; Carl Hiekisch, _Die
Tungusen_, St. Petersburg, 1879, p. 94. In Tibet the fifteenth day of the
lunar month receives a special name (A. Csoma de Körös, _A Grammar of the
Tibetan Language_, Calcutta, 1834, p. 157).
[568] _Yašt_, vii, 2 (_S. B. E._, xxiii, 89).
[569] _Odyssey_, xiv, 162; xix, 307: τοῦ μὲν φθίνοντος μηνός, τοῦ
δ’ ἱσταμένοιο; Hesiod, _Opera et dies_, 780: μηνὸς δ’ ἱσταμένου
τριςκαιδεκάτην.
[570] G. F. Unger, “Zeitrechnung der Griechen und Römer,” Iwan von
Müller’s _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i, 563.
However, evidence is not wanting for the observance of the fourteenth
day, and even of the sixteenth day, as that of the full moon. See A.
Mommsen, _Chronologie_, Leipzig, 1883, pp. 99 _sqq._
[571] The Greeks never knew the exact mean measurement of a lunation and,
owing to their neglect of the odd minutes and seconds in the lunar month,
they were obliged occasionally to intercalate an additional day. From a
passage in Aristophanes it would appear that this pious duty to the gods
was not always performed (_Nubes_, 610 _sqq._).
[572] T. Mommsen, _Römische Chronologie_, pp. 13 _sq._, 215 _sq._;
Marquardt-Wissowa, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii,² 282 _sq._
[573] Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i, 15, 10; Varro, _De lingua Latina_, vi,
27.
[574] The _nonæ_, or Nones, were so called because, by the Roman
inclusive reckoning, they fell on the ninth day (_nonus_) before the
Ides (Varro, _loc. cit._). Plutarch’s derivation from _novus_, new
or young, referring to the waxing moon, is without justification
(_Quæstiones Romanæ_, 24). On the etymology of _idus_ see Walde,
_Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch_,² p. 375. The Romans had no
name, corresponding to _nonæ_, for the last quarter of the moon. It has
been argued, therefore, that the Nones never marked the first quarter and
that they were introduced, quite artificially, during the regal period
(R. Flex, _Die älteste Monatseinteilung der Römer_, Jena, 1880, pp. 5
_sq._, 24 _sqq._, 36, 42).
[575] Tacitus, _Germania_, 11: _cum aut inchoatur luna aut impletur_.
[576] J. Loth, “L’année celtique d’après les textes irlandais, gallois,
bretons, et le calendrier de Coligny,” _Revue celtique_, 1904, xxv, 131;
R. Thurneysen, “Die Namen der Wochentage in den keltischen Dialecten,”
_Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung_, 1901, i, 191.
[577] The long inscription, engraved on a bronze tablet, which forms the
Calendar of Coligny, was discovered in 1897 near the city of Lyons. See
S. de Ricci, “Le calendrier gaulois de Coligny,” _Revue celtique_, 1898,
xix, 213-223; R. Thurneysen, “Der Kalender von Coligny,” _Zeitschrift für
celtische Philologie_, 1899, ii, 523-544; Sir John Rhŷs, “The Coligny
Calendar,” _Proceedings of the British Academy_, 1909-1910, pp. 207 _sqq._
[578] Loth, _loc. cit._; Rhŷs, _Celtic Heathendom_,³ London, 1898, pp.
360 _sq._
[579] Horapollo, _Hieroglyphica_, i, 4; Brugsch, _Ägyptologie_, p.
331; E. Mahler, in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1901, n.s.,
xxxiii, 55 _sqq._ Mahler’s hypothesis that the Egyptians looked upon the
full moon as the completion of the lunation is not improbable; there
are several passages in the Vedas where the full moon is indicated as
the end of the month and at the same time as the beginning of the next
month (Thibaut, _op. cit._, p. 12). The evidence yielded by the Calendar
of Coligny has been thought to imply that originally the Sequani of
Gaul counted the months from full moon to full moon (R. Thurneysen, in
_Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie_, 1899, ii, 526). The Melanesians
of New Georgia do not seem to calculate long periods of time at all: “one
full moon to another is as far as they usually go” (B. T. Somerville, in
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1897, xxvi, 404).
[580] Payne, _op. cit._, ii, 310, 323 _sqq._, 355 _sqq._; J. de Acosta,
_op. cit._, bk. vi, ch. 2 (ed. C. R. Markham, ii, 393); H. H. Bancroft,
_The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America_, ii, 515 _sq._
For other and less plausible reasons leading to the choice of the number
thirteen, see C. P. Bowditch, _The Numeration, Calendar Systems, and
Astronomical Knowledge of the Mayas_, Cambridge (Mass.), 1910, pp. 266
_sq._
[581] V. Restrepo, _Los Chibchas antes de la conquista española_, Bogota,
1895, p. 162; Garcilasso de la Vega, _op. cit._, pt. i, bk. ii, ch. 23
(transl. C. R. Markham, i, 181).
[582] Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, pp. 143 _sq._ The Benin tribes
are said to employ the same method of reckoning.
[583] _Idem_, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, pp. 215 _sq._ The Ga tribes have
an exactly similar mode of measuring time, though their names for the
days of the week are not the same as those used by the Tshi. With both
the Tshi and Ga the full moon marks the commencement of the third week of
7⅜ days and, with the Yoruba, the commencement of the fourth week of 5
days, in each case marking the lapse of half a month.
[584] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, London, 1855, p. 177. When the Maori
adopted the European week, they gave native names to three of the
weekdays. Sunday they called “the week,” _te wiki_, because on that day
the week began, Saturday was _te ra horoi_, or washing and cleaning-up
day, a name derived from their observation of European customs at that
time, and Friday was _te ra oka_, or bleeding day, so named because the
missionaries killed their pigs on Friday in order to be able to cut them
up on Saturday and dispose of them before Sunday. The remaining weekdays
had naturalized names, viz., _manei_, _turei_, _wenerei_, and _tairei_
(_ibid._, pp. 176 _sq._).
[585] Malo, _Hawaiian Antiquities_, p. 54; N. B. Emerson, in _ibid._, p.
200; Fornander, _Account of the Polynesian Race_, i, 120 _sq._ On the
Hawaiian Sabbaths see above, pp. 14 _sq._, 88.
[586] Christian, _Caroline Islands_, p. 394.
[587] _Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States_, edited by Scott
and Hardiman, pt. i, vol. i, p. 434; H. J. Wehrli, _Beitrag zur
Ethnologie der Chingpaw (Kachin) von Ober-Burma_, Leiden, 1904, p. 68
(_Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie_, vol. xvi, Supplement).
[588] A. Cabaton, “Calendar (Indo-Chinese),” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics_, iii, 110.
[589] T. L. Bullock and L. H. Gray, “Calendar (Chinese),” _ibid._, iii,
83. The names of the three decades are said to be _shang_, _chung_, and
_hea_ (Robert Morrison, _A View of China for Philological Purposes_,
Macao, 1817, p. 104).
[590] E. W. Clement, “Calendar (Japanese),” Hastings’s _Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics_, iii, 115.
[591] Fitzgerald, _op. cit._, p. 111.
[592] De Faria, in Astley’s _A New General Collection of Voyages and
Travels_, London, 1746, iii, 397. The eighth day of the new moon was
considered most unlucky by the Sofalese. No one on that day was allowed
to attend court or even speak to the king (_ibid._).
[593] E. Torday, in _Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in
Wien_, 1911, xli, 200.
[594] Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples_, p. 144. The first period, called
_adai_, is considered lucky; the second, called _ajamfo_, is unlucky;
while _adim_, the third period, has a neutral character (John Beecham,
_Ashantee and the Gold Coast_, London, 1841, p. 187). An old writer
asserts that the negroes living inland from the Gold Coast count in
every month the “great fortunate time,” nineteen days in length, and the
“lesser fortunate time,” of seven days’ duration. Between these periods
come seven ill or unfortunate days which serve as “a sort of vacation to
them, for then they do not travel, till their land, or undertake anything
of consequence, but remain altogether idle” (W. Bosman, _A New and
Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea_, London, 1705, p. 160).
[595] Above, pp. 119 _sq._
[596] Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, in _Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau
of American Ethnology_, p. 108. It is only right to add that Dr. J. W.
Fewkes, an eminent authority on the Pueblo Indians, expressed to me
in conversation (July, 1912) his doubts as to the correctness of Mrs.
Stevenson’s statement.
[597] Lepsius, _Chronologie der Ägypter_, i, 131 _sqq._; Brugsch,
_Thesaurus_, pt. i, 488 _sqq._; _idem_, _Ägyptologie_, p. 364. On the
astrological connection between the thirty-six decades of the twelve
months and certain constellations see G. Daressy, “Une ancienne liste des
décans égyptiens,” _Annales du service des antiquités de l’Égypte_, 1900,
i, 79-90. The old and once popular theory, based upon a misunderstanding
of certain passages in classical writers (Herodotus, ii, 82; Dio Cassius,
xxxvii, 19), that the Egyptians originally possessed a week of seven days
has now been entirely abandoned. For some monumental evidence, dating
from the Twenty-second Dynasty, which may possibly refer to an hebdomadal
cycle then used in astronomical speculations, see G. Daressy, “La semaine
des Égyptiens,” _Annales du service des antiquités de l’Égypte_, 1909, x,
21-23, 180-182.
[598] Pollux, _Onomasticon_, i, 63; G. F. Unger, in Iwan von Müller’s
_Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i, 563 _sqq._; M. P.
Nilsson, “_Die älteste griechische Zeitrechnung, Apollo und der Orient_,”
_Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, 1911, xiv, 432 _sq._
[599] Hesiod, _Opera et dies_, 765 _sqq._; compare A. W. Mair, _Hesiod_,
Oxford, 1908, pp. 165 _sq._; A. Mommsen, _Chronologie_, Leipzig, 1883, p.
43.
[600] E. Curtius, _History of Greece_, New York, 1871, ii, 58; C.
E. Ruelle, “Calendarium,” Daremberg and Saglio’s _Dictionnaire des
antiquités grecques et romaines_, ii, 832.
[601] W. H. Roscher, “Die enneadischen und hebdomadischen
Fristen und Wochen der ältesten Griechen,” _Abhandlungen der
philologisch-historischen Klasse der königlichsächsischen Gesellschaft
der Wissenschaften_, Leipzig, 1903, xxi, no. 4, pp. 14 _sqq._; _idem_,
“Die Sieben- und Neunzahl im Kultus und Mythus der Griechen,” _ibid._,
1904, xxiv, no. 1, pp. 54, 69, 83.
[602] K. Simrock, _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie_,⁹ Bonn, 1887, p.
156; E. Siecke, _Die Liebesgeschichte des Himmels_, Strassburg, 1892,
pp. 47 _sqq._; K. Weinhold, “Die mystische Neunzahl bei den Deutschen,”
_Abhandlungen der königlich-preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften_,
Berlin, 1897, pp. 40 _sqq._
[603] R. Thurneysen, “Die Namen der Wochentage in den keltischen
Dialecten,” _Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung_, 1901, i, 191. J.
Loth, however, regards the Celtic periods as having been employed as
ordinary weeks (“L’année celtique d’après les textes irlandais, gallois,
bretons, et le calendrier de Coligny,” _Revue celtique_, 1904, xxv, 136).
He accepts Roscher’s theory of the sidereal month having furnished the
basis for such nine-day periods as are found among the Celts, and argues
that subsequently, when the sidereal month had been abandoned for the
synodic month, the nine-day periods became artificial units, independent
of any connection with the moon. But so strange a transition as that
from the sidereal to the synodic month cannot be supported by any Celtic
evidence and has no analogy among other peoples. For another theory see
Sir John Rhŷs, _Celtic Heathendom_,³ London, 1898, pp. 361-366.
[604] Above, pp. 106, 109 _sqq._, 119 _n._³, 120 _sq._ The theory
advanced by Theodor Mommsen that the Roman _nundinum_ originally
represented a quadripartite division of the lunation (_Römische
Chronologie_, pp. 240 _sq._) was afterwards abandoned by its author
(_Römisches Staatsrecht_, iii, 373). Compare also R. Flex, _Die älteste
Monatseinteilung der Römer_, Jena, 1880, pp. 18 _sqq._
[605] E. Littmann, “Sternensagen und Astrologisches aus Nordabessinien,”
_Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, 1908, xi, 302 _sq._, 319. In order to
adapt the _‘sāmĕn_ to the imported hebdomadal cycle, Sunday is counted
twice.
[606] Above, pp. 114 _and_ _n._³, 116 _n._¹
[607] A. Henry, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1903,
xxxiii, 105. The Muhso, a Lao hill tribe, “have a twelfth-day Sabbath
or sacred day, not very definitely marked” (Daniel McGilvary, _A Half
Century among the Siamese and the Lāo_, New York [1912], p. 323). Did
this “Sabbath” originate as a market day, which at first recurred every
sixth day?
[608] E. Gottschling, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
1905, xxxv, 382.
[609] Above, pp. 103 _sqq._, 108, 110, 113 _and_ _n._⁶, 114 _and_ _n._³,
116 _n._¹
[610] _The Oxyrhynchus Papyri_, edited by Grenfell and Hunt, London,
1903, pt. iii, 126-137.
[611] The data relating to the _khamushtu_ are found in some Cappadocian
tablets discovered by Golénischeff and others in mounds not far from
Kaisariyeh. This city was a colony of Assyria and the last outpost of
Assyrian power in the northwest. The tablets are in Babylonian cuneiform
script belonging to the age of Hammurabi. Professor A. H. Sayce in 1897
was the first to show that the term _khamushtu_ in these documents
represented a continuous succession of five-day periods; and Professor
Hugo Winckler later made, independently, the same discovery. See Sayce,
in _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, 1897, xix, 288;
_idem_, in _Babyloniaca_, 1907, ii, 1-45; Winckler, _Altorientalische
Forschungen_, Leipzig, 1898-1900, ii, 91 _sqq._, 354 _sqq._
[612] For references to the cuneiform evidence see P. Jensen, “Die
siebentägige Woche in Babylon und Nineveh,” _Zeitschrift für deutsche
Wortforschung_, 1901, i, 150 _sq._; W. Muss-Arnolt, in _Journal of
Biblical Literature_, xi, 94; A. Jeremias, _The Old Testament in the
Light of the Ancient East_, London, 1911, i, 65.
[613] G. Vígfússon, _An Icelandic-English Dictionary_, Oxford, 1874,
_s.v._ _fimt_; Vígfússon and Powell, _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, Oxford,
1883, i, pp. cxx, 428; F. B. Gummere, _Germanic Origins_, New York, 1892,
p. 418; T. F. Troels-Lund, _Livsbelysning_, Copenhagen, 1904, pp. 13,
198. For the translation of this last reference I am indebted to Mr. N.
H. Debel.
[614] The Stseelis, an Indian tribe of British Columbia, have a singular
tradition that their ancestors used to observe a kind of Sabbath ceremony
long before the coming of the whites. The people assembled every seventh
day for dancing and praying. It is impossible to explain this tradition
apart from European influence at some remote time (C. Hill-Tout, in
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1904, xxxiv, 329).
[615] L. Dahle, “The Influence of the Arabs on the Malagasy Language,”
_Antananarivo Annual_, 1875-1878, i, 205. In addition to the Arabic
seven-day week with its numbered weekdays, the Malagasy also use, for
astrological purposes, the planetary designations of the weekdays. Of
these, three are good or lucky days, three are unlucky, and one has
a neutral character. See J. Sibree, “Divination among the Malagasy,”
_Folklore_, 1892, iii, 220 _sq._
[616] Soury-Lavergne and de la Devèze, in _Anthropos_, 1913, viii, 310
_n._⁴; James Sibree, _The Great African Island_, London, 1880, p. 281.
[617] O. Kersten, editor, _Baron Carl Claus von der Decken’s Reisen in
Ost-Afrika_, Leipzig, 1869, i, 101.
[618] M. Merker, _Die Masai_,² Berlin, 1910, pp. 157 _sq._, 327 _sq._;
compare Sir Charles Eliot, in A. C. Hollis, _The Masai_, Oxford, 1905, p.
xiv.
[619] C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of the A-Kamba and Other East African
Tribes_, Cambridge, 1910, p. 163.
[620] J. L. Krapf, _Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours_, London,
1867, p. 82.
[621] J. W. C. Kirk, _A Grammar of the Somali Language_, Cambridge, 1905,
p. 134; P. Paulitschke, _Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas. Die geistige
Kultur der Danâkil, Galla, und Somâl_, Berlin, 1896, p. 224.
[622] F. J. Bieber, in _Revue des études ethnographiques et
sociologiques_, 1909, ii, 38, 63.
[623] Above, pp. 115 _sqq._ For further instances see Anne Raffenel,
_Nouveau voyage dans le pays des nègres_, Paris, 1856, i, 350 (Bambara);
H. Gaden, in _Revue d’ethnographie et de sociologie_, 1912, iii, 52
(Toucouleur and Mohammedan Peul of Senegal). Among the Vey of Liberia the
week of seven days must be due to Christian influence (J. Büttikofer,
_Reisebilder aus Liberia_, Leiden, 1890, ii, 317).
[624] Above, p. 157 _and_ _n._²
[625] Above, p. 166.
[626] J. F. Fleet, “The Use of the Planetary Names of the Days of the
Week in India,” _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1912, n.s., xliv,
1039-1046. For lists of the more common planetary names of the weekdays,
as now found in India, see Sewell and Dikshit, _The Indian Calendar_,
London, 1896, p. 2. The celebrated astronomical work in Sanskrit, known
as the _Sûrya-Siddhânta_, contains two references to the planetary
week (i, 51-52, xii, 78-79; transl. Burgess-Whitney, in _Journal of
the American Oriental Society_, 1860, v, 175-178, 396), and in the
_Hitōpadēśa_ (ed. Johnson, p. 16, l. 411) there is an interesting passage
which, as A. W. von Schlegel was the first to point out (_Indische
Bibliothek_, 1827, ii, 178), refers to Sunday as a sacred day.
[627] Sir M. Monier-Williams, _Brāhmanism and Hindūism_,⁴ New York, 1891,
p. 433; W. Crooke, _Natives of Northern India_, London, 1907, p. 226;
_idem_, _The Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh_,
Calcutta, 1896, iii, 112.
[628] J. A. Dubois, _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_,³ Oxford,
1906, p. 382.