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The Celtic calendar was and remains a way to reconcile lunar and solar years, for purposes of ritual.
The oldest material Celtic calendar is the fragmented Coligny calendar, which was discovered in Coligny, France, in 1897. It dates to the 1st century BCE, a time when the Celts coexisted with the Romans in Gaul, for the calendar uses roman numerals for instance. The astronomical format of the calendar year that the Coligny calendar represents, is likely to be far older, for calendars are more conservative even than rites and cults. An engraved stone found at Knowth, Ireland, according to Martin Brennan (see Reference) author of 'Stones of Time' is a graphical representation of a lunar calendar that operates on the same principle as the Coligny calendar.
The Coligny calendar registers a cycle of lunar months, each divided in halves.
The celtic calendar of the Gauls usually had 12 months in the year. The months alternated between a 29 day and a 30 day stretch, for a total of 354 days in the year. The difference between a solar year and a lunar year was solved by putting in a 13th month every two and a half years.
The year was divided in two and these two divisions were divided in two again. Interpretation of the calendar was done by the druids.
The first part of the year started at Samaine or Samhain, which was around the first of November, never far from what would become All Saints day and Halloween in our modern solar calendar. The second part of the year started at Beltaine which was around the first of May.
The Coligny calendar is now in the Gallo-Roman museum of Lyon.
Celtic days began at sundown. Longer periods were reckoned in nights, as in the surviving term "fortnight."
See also
External links
References
- Brennan, Martin. The stones of time : calendars, sundials, and stone chambers of ancient Ireland. Rochester, Vermont. : Inner Traditions, 1994.
- Brunaux, Jean-Louis. Les Gaulois: Sanctuaires et rites. Paris: Editions Errance, 1986.
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