KEEPERS OF TIME ©
by Tira Brandon-Evans
Calendars help us keep track of time. The earliest known calendars were lunar calendars. Marks on the walls of caves first appeared in Paleolithic times. Later the mammoth hunters of Neolithic Europe incised mammoth tusks with precise markings that charted the waxing and waning of the moon. At the same time we were keeping track of the lunar cycles we were also keeping track of the seasonal rising and setting of the Sun at the equinoxes and solstices. Eventually, the keepers of time, the shamans, attempted to merge the lunar and solar calendars.
At Coligny near Bourg-en-Bress in France, fragments of a large bronze plate were discovered. When pieced together the plate proved to be about five feet by three and one half feet. This plaque, which came to be called the Coligny Calendar, is believed to be a soli-lunar calendar. Roman numerals and lettering is used throughout but the language is Gaulish, not Latin. [1]
The calendrical information is arranged in two columns, which seem to indicate the two parts of the lunar month. There are 62 months listed and the Coligny Calendar appears to have been a creditable attempt at combining the Solar and Lunar calendars. To create a bronze plate of such large dimension was a major undertaking and a triumph of the smith’s craft. This shows us how important keeping track of the days and seasons was to our ancestors.
That the Coligny Calendar survived at all is only because of its essentially imperishable nature. If Hawkins’ theories are correct Stonehenge, Avebury, Carnac, Brugh na Boine and many other ancient monuments were created to be the keepers of time. Although our Celtic ancestors did not build these monuments, they almost certainly fell heirs to their secrets. The Coligny Calendar is mathematically sophisticated, showing that our Celtic ancestors were capable of precise observation and able to keep detailed records.
THE DUAL YEAR
Our Celtic ancestors watched the great lights of the heavens and held feasts or fire festivals at certain times of the year. These are the eight portals of the seasons. On certain days, the doors between this and Otherworlds stand open. Four of the portals of the seasons are solar and four are lunar in nature. The solar year is marked by the quarter days and the lunar year is marked by the cross-quarter days. [2]
The Solar Year of the Little Sun begins at the Summer Solstice, around June 22. At the Winter Solstice, about December 22, the Solar Year of the Big Sun begins. The Lunar Year of the Little Sun begins at Samhain or November 1 while the Lunar Year of the Big Sun begins on May 1 at Beltane.
The Lunar Year festivals are those associated with fire festivals and almost certainly predate the Solar Year festivals. The myths and rituals associated with the solstices overlay the more ancient stories and traditions associated with the Lunar Year, just as modern London overlays the archaeological remains of ancient London.
ENDNOTES:
- Although the Tree Calendar is near and dear to the hearts of many Celtic reconstructionists it was never heard of until Robert Graves allowed his poetic intuition to ‘discover’ it in the 1940’s. He dismisses the Coligny Calendar as being a Roman import into Gaul but as he was seeking to prove his theory of the Tree Calendar it was not in his best interests to investigate or lend any weight to the Coligny Calendar in his book The White Goddess. [Return to Article]
- The quarter days are the equinoxes and solstices. Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh are the cross-quarter days. [Return to Article]
Tira Brandon-Evans is the Founder and Moderator of the Society of Celtic Shamans, editor of Earthsongs: Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans, and is, herself, a Faery Shaman. Her books, The Green and Burning Tree: A Faery Shaman's Handbook, Portals of the Seasons: A Celtic Wheel of the Year, Through the Unremembered Gate: Journeys of Initiation, The Labyrinthine Way: Walking Ancient Paths in a Modern World, and Healing Waters, are all published by Elder Grove Press. She is presently writing a book about the Ogham. You may contact Tira by email at info@faeryshaman.org.
Excerpted from The Labyrinthine Way: Walking Ancient Paths in a Modern World, Copyright © 2003 by Tira Brandon-Evans. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page
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