Читать книгу Primitive Time-reckoning. A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoples онлайн

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The Kiwai Papuans who dwell on the opposite coast of New Guinea have the same star myths as the inhabitants of the Torres Straits Islands: for them, however, no smaller but only two greater seasons are mentioned[229]; on the other hand they have months[230]. The smaller seasons have clashed with the reckoning by moons, and have surrendered their names to describe the latter. They have therefore in great measure become merged in the counting of the months, which will be dealt with later. The greater seasons on the other hand, on account of their length, could not be merged in the reckoning by months, and these have therefore everywhere remained. The number of the longer seasons varies considerably, and is of course connected not only with the climatic conditions but also with the fundamental phenomena which for one reason or another attract attention; a larger season may also be divided into two or three smaller ones.

It may be taken for granted that all peoples outside the tropics, even where it has not been thought necessary expressly to mention the fact, know the two larger divisions of the year, the warmer and colder seasons. Where the plants die in winter and the trees lose their leaves, or where the snow covers the ground, this great difference becomes especially pronounced and determines the whole mode of life: but even in the sub-tropical regions it is obvious enough. To it corresponds in many parts of the tropics and sub-tropical zones the natural division into a dry and a rainy season. For the division into the summer period of vegetation and winter with its snow and ice it is superfluous to give examples: the above-quoted description of the year of the Labrador Eskimos is a typical instance. Swanton and Boas state that certain Indian tribes of N. W. America divide the year into two equal parts of six months each, summer extending from April to September, and winter from October to March[231]. The Comanches reckon by the cold and the warm seasons[232]. I give a few instances from districts in which a winter of this nature does not exist. Among the Hopi of Arizona the year has two divisions—there seems to be no equivalent to our four seasons—which may be termed the periods of the named and the nameless months: the former is the cold period, the latter is the warm. They may also be called the greater and the lesser periods, since the former begins in August and ends in March[233]. The Zuñi of western New Mexico also divide the year into two periods of six months each[234]. The Chocktaw of Louisiana have the same number of seasons[235]. The natives of Central Australia have names for summer and winter[236].