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nigelswift N
nigelswift Mar 28, 2006 19:00:08
Replying to gorseddphungus

"I also don't believe that stone circles were necessary for people to *know* about the time of year. It is far too easy to know the time of the year by crossing out days in a homemade calendar."

I agree. You can cross out days on a home made calendar, or you can simply look at where the sun goes down. That tells you where you are in the year to an accuracy of a single day.

With such a perfect and accurate means of knowing the time of year available to every farmer I can't help thinking that stone circles and interest in the moon both owed less to practical need and more to priestly and ritual showing off.

G gorseddphungus
gorseddphungus Mar 28, 2006 22:30:37
Replying to nigelswift

Yes. Thus, a miserable existence farming your life away acquired enormous significance when one realised daily things were part of some sort of cosmic godlike drama. Imagine you plant the seeds ON the day of the big equinoctial celebrations when in the stories of your ancestors the gods of the old year / winter become the gods of the new year / summer, and EVEN the sun and the moon are said to be acting accordingly and constellations come and go following certain myths. Suddenly things 'make sense'. I suppose it's a bit like the feeling you get when you are in a big gathering and you feel elated, that you are part of a whole. Manipulation? Nah, possibly just a deliberate collective drunken break in the dreadful drag of a dreary calendar.
The stars, sun and moon were the jugglers and actors that performed the same drama every year in that sense.