The Calendar and Callanish
- The 19 year cycle
- The nineteen year cycle
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A significant feature of Callanish relates to the nineteen year cycle (the Metonic Cycle)
that synchronises the lunar cycle to the solar one every nineteen years. Unlike other stone circles,
at Callanish every nine years
(ie each half of the Metonic cycle)
the moon never sets for several nights, during its major standstill.
This unique fact was recorded by the Romans "in the land of the Hyperboreans, where the
natives dance from the Vernal Equinox until the rising of the Pleideas".
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At Callanish, thirteen stones in a ring likely
represent the thirteen months of the year. In the celtic calendar each month has
28 days and represents both a consonant of the alphabet and a species of tree. Beginning with Beithe, which contains the midwinter
solstice, the calendar progresses
clockwise to give a total of 364 days. This leaves an 'and a day' (something often found in folklore)
and the missing hours may well correspond to the midsummer solstice or the 'day
out of time' .
The five vowels define not time periods but points of the solstices and equinoxes.
The relationship of 12 to 13 months (solar to lunar) is important and something that is highly
developed at Stonehenge. See
Stonehenge