How the Calendar Works

The Beowulf calendar works by focusing attention on the position of the sun as it rises each morning, and what stars are coming up just before sunrise. The calendar is not specific for any particular occupation; the poet does not name the stars for the time of plowing, the time of berries, the time of returning fish. Instead the calendar would tell the farmer that this warm spell is not the middle of March, it is the middle of February and he still has some hard cold weather ahead. Or if he sees frost on the ground with that particular star on the horizon this is probably the last frost he will see this year; he can proceed with the planting. While each person must learn to interpret the information for himself, name the star for whatever occupation that concerns the viewer, the star calendar does give him the assurance that what he sees is dependable.

When I was a young man I read of the Tarpon Springs Parade of Boats where the sponge boats were blessed by an Orthodox Priest at the start of sponging season. I lived in Lexington, Kentucky where the local hunting clubs gather each fall to have their horses and hounds blessed by the Episcopal Bishop. This is a holdover from a previous celebration I was told. In the Roman Catholic Church almost every occupation has its patron saint: Saint Sovinus, patron saint of gardeners, celebrated March 13th, St Cuthbert, patron of shepherds, March 29th.  These Saint’s days were originally crucial days for the local occupations he or she patronized.

But the Saints’ days, the sponge boat parade, the Blessing of the Hounds, all timed by some means even before there were paper calendars, were not the important events to the society that supported them. It was the preparations for those events that performed the critical economic or social function of the celebration.

Herring try to lay their eggs just before there is an algae bloom to feed their multitudes of fry. They lay their eggs at a specific time. If a town has a herring fishery it would have to keep a boat on the fishing grounds to see and report to the town when the fish arrived. This process is awkward, time consuming and expensive. More dependable would be a method of determining when the fish arrive by knowing the time. An astronomer-Priest notices that the fish arrive just as the abba star appears in the morning sky. He notes that the star baba preceded abba by half a moon. The next year when baba appears he goes to the herring fishermen and says, “There is a herring god and he came to me and said that if you would bring your boats to him in half a moon he would promise you a good fishing season.”

The fishermen talk among themselves. “Well, a bit of help can’t hurt,” “Half a moon, huh. Gives me time to rig that new sail and repair the rigging. I don’t want the god to see the boat the way it is now.” They repair their boats, get them in good shape and present them to the god who blesses them as abba rises. The boats sail out to the herring grounds and, lo and behold, the fish are there! The priest was right; the fish do come on this specific date, and the boats, being in top shape, are able to take full advantage of the opportunity. The fishermen are convinced the god helped them; the city is pleased the fishermen have done well; taxes are paid, and so it supports the temple which grows around the god. The blessing of the boats becomes an annual event, though the real value is not the event itself, but the anticipation with certainty that allows the participants to prepare for the celebration by getting their equipment in the best possible shape.

The Blessing of the Hounds means that by that date the Masters of the Hunt will be sure that all participants have new saddles or repaired the old, that their horses are clean, healthy, groomed and a credit to the hunt; that the hounds are in the best shape they can manage. Good preparation means a successful hunt, or at least the chances of a good hunt are greatly increased.

Gardeners who bring their work tools to the St. Sovinus’ Day celebration on March 13th to get the Saint’s blessing will be sure that the tools are in the best condition they can manage. Not only will the Saint be watching their tools, but their neighbors will be looking and judging. Those tools will be the best available!

The calendar that uses the stars on the horizon tells the astronomer, or anyone who is interested enough to become informed, the exact time, and also how much time they have before any specific date in the future. The calendar makes possible anticipation with certainty. The exact time, plus the ability to anticipate, makes the astronomical calendar as indispensable a tool to the people of the ancient world as the paper calendar is to our world today.

 

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