Introduction
‘Since allhuman activities occur in time, the existence of a socialsystem
necessitates some organization of time.’^1 These words, the beginning of an
eminent anthropologist’s encyclopedia article on time and calendars, suggest
that calendars are, above all, a necessity for the existence of society.Without
dating and time-keeping devices, it wouldbeclose to impossible to coordinate
political, economic, religious, and allother socialactivities; without calendars,
society would not be able to function.
This is surely correct, but only part of the story. The calendar is far more
than a functional, utilitarian device for the organization of sociallife. As a
shared conception of time or of theflow of human and naturalevents, which it
assumes (for example) to be structured and recurrent, the calendar contributes
to a certain perception of reality, and hence, to socially shared world views.
Calendars have often been invested, indeed, with ideologicalmeanings that
transcend the temporalorganization of society and assume sometimes cosmic
significance. Thus in Antiquity, the calendars of ancient Egypt and of Qumran
(where theDead Sea Scrolls were discovered) have been interpreted, each in
their own way, as representations of cosmic stability and harmony. To the
Babylonians, thelength of calendar months and years had astrologicalim-
plications that could affect, in turn, the welfare of the kingdom and of men. To
the Jews, the procedure for declaring the new month was an act of‘sanctifica-
tion’, the fulfilment of a‘commandment’;calendar reckoning did not just serve
the practicalneeds of determining the dates of festivals, but constituted
areligious activity in its own right. The design and reckoning of ancient
calendars were often also an intellectual, scientific achievement, involving
arithmeticaltechniques and some knowledge of astronomy. The calendar
was thus, in many respects, a constitutive part of what is called‘culture’.
The calendar is often trivialized as a technicalcuriosity, only usefulto
epigraphists and ancient historians for the purpose of working out chronology
(^1) Goody ( 1 968) 30;Iam gratefulto StanisławIwaniszewski for this reference. Similar
thoughts were expressed already by Malinowski ( 1 927) 203–4. See also the opening statement
ofHannah (200 5 ) 1 – 2, partially cited below.