Today, the most famous chronology systems are the Julian calendar (“old”), introduced in the Roman Republic by Julius Caesar from January 1, 45 BC, and the Gregorian calendar (“new”), which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. But history also knows other calendars - some of them were used by the ancients, while others were introduced into use quite recently.
Mayan calendar
The Mayan calendar is actually made up of three different calendars: the Long Count (astronomical calendar), the Tzolkin (divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). The Haab calendar had 365 days, and it was divided into 19 months: 18 had 20 days, and 19 had only 5 days. The Tzolkin had 20 “periods” of 13 days each. The Tzolk'in was used to determine the days of Mayan ceremonies and religious events. The long count was used to determine long periods of time in the "universal cycle", which has 2.88 million days (about 7885 years). The ancient Mayans believed that the Universe was destroyed and rebuilt every 2.88 million days.
International Rectified Calendar
The International Revised Calendar has 13 months, each with 28 days. The months in it go, as in the regular calendar - from January to December, and also in June-July a 13th month is added - “Sol”. According to such a calendar, Easter will always be on April 15, every Christmas will fall on Wednesday, and every year will begin on Sunday. However, in every month the 13th will fall on a Friday. The calendar was made by Moses Costworth in 1899, but was never adopted.
Egyptian calendar
The first calendar that the ancient Egyptians began to use is the lunar calendar, based on the floods of the Nile River. This calendar turned out to be very inaccurate, and it could have an error of up to 80 days. Therefore, the Egyptians introduced a solar calendar based on the movement of the star Sirius. The two calendars were used simultaneously, but they soon began to differ greatly, forcing the Egyptians to add an extra month to the lunar calendar every three years. But even with an additional month, the calendars did not coincide, so the Egyptians introduced new calendar, which had 365 days divided into 12 months. Each month had 30 days, with 5 additional days added at the end of the year.
Positivist calendar
The positivist calendar was intended to replace the Catholic calendar. It was invented in 1849 by Auguste Comte. All of his 13 months had exactly 28 days, divided into four seven-day weeks. Each week of this calendar is dedicated to outstanding personality in world history.
Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar was solar-lunar, that is, it was calculated based on the position of the Sun and Moon. There were 12 months and 353-355 days in a year, while a leap year added a whole extra month (resulting in a year of 383-385 days). A leap month was added approximately once every three years. Although this calendar is still used in China, it is mainly used to calculate the days of Chinese ceremonies and weddings, and the Gregorian calendar is used for everything else.
Ethiopian Orthodox calendar
Ethiopia celebrated the new millennium on September 12, 2007, seven and a half years after the rest of the world. This happened because Ethiopia uses the Coptic Orthodox calendar, which has 13 months of 30 days each. Leap years add an extra month of five or six days. The calendar was frequently used in the West until 1582, when it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. Ethiopia did not switch to the Gregorian calendar due to excessive conservatism and religiosity in the country.
French revolutionary calendar
The French Revolutionary Calendar is also called the French Republican Calendar and was an unsuccessful attempt to "de-Christianize" France. The calendar was used in France from October 24, 1793 until January 1, 1806, when it was finally abolished. The year the revolution began (1792) was declared the beginning new era. The era “from the birth of Christ” and the beginning of the year on January 1 were abolished. Instead, each year began on September 22 (the first day of the Republic). Considering that the calendar was introduced in 1793, it had a 1st year, instead the countdown began immediately from the 2nd year.
Roman calendar
The Roman calendar is a perfect example of what a calendar should not look like. This chronology system, sometimes called the "pre-Julian calendar", was created by King Romulus during the founding of Rome. The calendar had 10 months with a total of 304 days, plus an additional 61 days that were not included in any month or week. Since the months did not coincide with the seasons of the year, King Numa Pompilius added two additional months, Januarius (January) and Februarius (February). Subsequent pontiffs added additional months for their own personal purposes. Some of them were even bribed to add or shorten the length of the year. Julius Caesar later introduced the Julian calendar after he became pontiff.
Aztec calendar
The Aztec calendar was composed of two different calendars: the Xiupoualli and the Tonalpohualli. The normal Xiupouhalli calendar had 365 days, divided into 18 months of 20 days each. Five additional days were added at the end of the year, and another 12 days were added every 52 years. The Tonalpohualli ritual calendar had 20 months divided into 13 days, making a total of 260 days in a year. Each of these 260 days was designated a separate character and was dedicated to a specific god. Both calendars coincided once every 52 years, and the Aztecs believed that the world could be destroyed at the end of each such cycle. To prevent impending doom, they performed a 12-day ritual called the New Fire Festival, during which they practiced human sacrifice.
We all count the days, some until vacation, some until the weekend, and also until an anniversary or some other important date. We owe the ability to count years, months and even days to the creators of calendars. And each of us dreams of forever capturing the happiest day or the face of a child dear to our hearts, so that when we look at the photo we know on what day, year and month this event took place. How many calendars have been created in the history of the earth? Reply to this question Even the greatest scientists can hardly dare to give it with 100% accuracy. The only thing we can say with certainty is that every people who has ever lived on our planet had their own calendars that helped them keep track of time, and the design of the calendars, their form and methods of calculating time were very different from each other.
“Calendar” is translated from Latin as debt book. Its name is associated with the fact that in Ancient Rome, debtors were obliged to pay interest to the borrower on a day - kalends, which fell on the first day of the month. Initially, the calculation of large periods of time was based on the movement of large celestial bodies - the Sun and the Moon, on the basis of which lunar and solar calendars were created. Today, a calendar is a periodical publication that contains a strict sequence of days, weeks and months, and it also necessarily highlights holiday dates of various types.
Where did the first calendar originate?
The first calendar was created in Ancient Egypt. It was based on the regular floods of the Nile River, which occurred at regular intervals. The creation of the calendar was due to the fact that the Nile floods destroyed the harvest if it was not harvested on time. In addition, during the flood, river water brought huge amount fertile soils. And in order to ensure that the crop did not perish and was planted and harvested on time, the ancients developed a calendar based on the cyclical nature of the Nile flood.
Each nation had its own ways of dating important historical events. For example, some peoples tried to calculate chronology from the creation of the world. In addition, each of the ever existing religions had its own calendar.
Julian and Gregorian calendars
Transferring from one chronology to another was associated with a number of inconveniences, which was primarily due to the different lengths of the year, since in each chronology system the calendar year began at different days and even months.
The countdown of the year starting from January 1 was introduced in 45 BC in Rome by the great Julius Caesar; over time, the calendar was named after its creator - the Julian. Thanks to Julian calendar The average length of a regular year was established at 365 days, and every fourth year was considered a leap year and its duration was 366 days. The modern Gregorian calendar appeared thanks to Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 on October 15. The Gregorian calendar was introduced to replace the Julian calendar in force at that time and was called the new style calendar.
Mayan calendar
However, perhaps the most mysterious calendar in the whole world is rightfully considered the calendar of the ancient Mayans. The Mayan calendar was created in Central America by the Mayan civilization during the pre-Columbian period. It was also used successfully by some other Central American peoples, such as the ancient Aztecs or Teltecs. The main feature and mystery of this calendar is that its last date was December 21, 2012.
Vikram samvat
Another world-famous calendar is rightfully considered the Vikram Samvat or Samvat calendar. This calendar was once widespread in India. Its main feature is that the length of the solar day is related to the length of the lunar months. The Neapolitan calendar was later created on the basis of Vikram Samvat.
Gregorian calendar considered the most common in the world. Most residents live in the 21st century. But the calendars in different countries The world begins with various events that, for historical or religious reasons, turned out to be important for the inhabitants of these particular regions.
- Buddhist calendar. It begins its countdown from 543 BC. e., in 2013 the year was 2556. In 2018 - 2561 b. This calendar originates from the year of death of the founder and main philosopher of Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama. This chronology is used in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
- Jewish calendar. The year 5778 came in 2018. The calendar begins with the date of the first new moon, which occurred a year before the creation of the world - 3761 BC. e. In Israel, the Gregorian calendar is used along with the Jewish one.
- Solar Zoroastrian calendar. in 2018 the year is 1387. In this calendar there are 12 months of 30 days and there are no weeks. Zoroastrianism is considered one of ancient religions, which was widespread in Central and Asia Minor. The Zoroastrian calendar dates back to 632 AD. e., when the Shah ascended the throne of the Sassanid state Yazdegerd III. This calendar is used in the remaining Zoroastrian communities in India, Iran and Azerbaijan.
- Unified national calendar of India. Operates along with the Gregorian. It was adopted in 1957, and dates back to 78 AD. e., when the ruler of the Satavahana dynasty, Gautamiputra Satakarni, stopped the invasion of Iranian tribes in southern India. In this calendar, the length of the year is equal to the length of the tropical year, that is, 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. According to this calendar, the year 2018 is 1939.
- Islamic calendar. The year 1439 arrived in 2018. This calendar dates from July 16, 622 AD. e., when prophet muhammed and the first Muslims migrated from Mecca to Medina. This is a lunar calendar, with 12 lunar months containing approximately 354 days. According to the Islamic calendar, some Muslim countries determine the dates of religious holidays.
- Juche calendar. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea turned 107 in 2018. The calendar dates back to 1912, when the future founder of the state and first ruler was born Kim Il Sung.
- Ethiopian calendar. 2010 began in 2018. The calendar is calculated from August 29, 8 AD. e. according to the Julian calendar, when, according to the statements of the Alexandrian monk Anian, Archangel Gabriel brought the Virgin Mary the good news of the imminent birth of the Savior. The Ethiopian calendar is used by the country's Eritrean Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical churches.
- Chinese calendar. In 2013, it was the 30th year of the 78th cycle. This 60-year calendar was introduced by Emperor Huang Di in 2637 BC. e. It is used in China to calculate the dates of traditional holidays.
- Japanese calendar. 2018 marks the 29th year of the Heisei era. It was introduced into use in 1989, when the now living Emperor Akihito ascended the throne.
And more recently, lovers of mysticism repeated the dissatisfied princess almost word for word, having realized how cruelly they were “cheated” by the Mayan calendar, which had become rapidly fashionable. The doomsday predicted for December 21, 2012 with cosmic cataclysms failed successfully. True, nothing like this ancient calendar it seems that he didn’t promise: by that time, just another of his “big” - five-thousand-year - cycles had expired and a new one had begun. But if someone wants to “visit fatal moments,” why not believe in such nonsense?
The day lasts longer than an era
Any calendar is based on the movement of celestial bodies. People have been using the Sun, Moon and stars to keep track of time since time immemorial. What a solar day is, the primitive hunter-gatherers understood perfectly well, and millions of years before, their future victims “mastered the topic.” With the advent of cultivated agriculture and the first city-states, the need arose not only to guess from many scattered signs when a herd of mammoths would wander into the surroundings again, but to accurately determine “the time to plant and the time to uproot what was planted,” as Ecclesiastes said. After all, it is easy to be deceived by the signs visible on earth, but the stars, although you cannot touch them with your hand, behave much more reliably. In the end, the skilled priests - the first intellectuals of humanity - having mastered the wisdom of astronomy, began to develop complex calendar systems covering larger periods.
Of course, everywhere they did this, regardless of their near, distant and completely unknown brothers, each according to their own conviction. It is not surprising that traditional calendars different nations not only differ radically in the primary point of reference (from what, in fact, moment “our world began”, therefore, its time was born), but sometimes, quite noticeably, in the number and duration of months in the year, even in the duration of the year itself. For example, for residents of hot countries, where nature does not have four seasons, as in temperate latitudes, but in fact only two, it is not so important to accurately determine the dates of change of these seasons. However, the inextricable connection between calendar calculations and housekeeping is shown by the very origin of the word: calendarium in Latin - “book of tax payments.”
Moreover, some sages preferred to “dance” from the Sun, others - from shorter lunar cycles (because, in particular, Christians believe that 1392 years have passed since the original date of the Islamic calendar - the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina - and the Muslims themselves date back 1436 years). Still others tried to somehow link the revolutions of the day and night luminaries.
"Retro plus" and "retro minus"
Other incidents are less closely related to astronomy or have nothing to do with it at all. Thus, there is no agreement in chronologies that begin with one common mark - the creation of the world by the One God of the Jews, that is, God the Father of Christians. According to the ancient Orthodox tradition, the year 7522 has recently begun in our country; in Israel the year 5575 is underway; for Catholics, the count is more modest by a thousand or two years. Well, at least about all other circumstances the most important event believers don't have to argue.
But the absolute champions in the “retro plus” category are the Hindus. According to their concepts, the creator Brahma was given exactly a century; now yours life path he got halfway through. There are, as expected, 360 days in a year, but these days are 4.3 billion of our years - slightly less than the age of the Earth! If we continue the recalculation, then it turns out that the entire Universe with its Big Bang is not even a baby, but just some kind of ciliate shoe.
An interesting example of the opposite approach to history is the modern research of academician from mathematics Anatoly Fomenko with a support group. According to their “New Chronology,” which rejects any archaeological data, the “only reliable” history of mankind goes back no more than 700 years. Everything got mixed up: Veliky Novgorod and Yaroslavl are one and the same city, like Rome and Jerusalem. Khan Batu was a born Russian, but at the same time the Lithuanian prince Gediminas, and in addition Ivan the Terrible and St. Basil the Blessed... In the end, science fiction writers went so far as to say that Christ, apparently a contemporary of these “historical clones,” allegedly brought people not so much a new faith as a technology for the production of the famous Russian vodka. Well, everything else that is taught in school is simply an invention of Western slanderers who dream of belittling Russia.
Still, she's spinning... somehow wrong
The Orthodox temporary book is usually called Julian, since it was compiled in the homeland of Mediterranean astronomy, in Egypt, at the behest of Julius Caesar. It began to operate in 45 BC. e., or in 708 from the foundation of the City (the latter served as the date of the “beginning of times” among the ancient Romans).
However, less than a millennium and a half had passed before it became clear that the calendar was increasingly “lag behind life.” Since the length of the year in it is 11 minutes longer than the real astronomical one, then for every 128 years of the Julian calendar an extra day is added to the year. That's why it's important church holidays began to steadily “move” away from astronomical facts. Let's say, on Easter Day, the first ray of the sun stubbornly refused to illuminate, as prescribed, the mosaic in the main Roman Cathedral of St. Peter. Christmas, which once approximately coincided with the winter solstice, was eager to escape closer to the warmth of spring, and there were countless less embarrassments...
Once again, astronomers sat down to make calculations. As a result of their hard work, Pope Gregory XIII acted not simply, but very simply: he ordered that the day following October 4, 1582 be considered not the fifth, but immediately the fifteenth. The “new style” calendar was named after this high priest. The Gregorians will not see their own daily error soon: the extra days in this calendar accumulate over 10 thousand years.
Pluralism in one calendar
It is curious that the same decree, only about January 31 and February 14, was issued 326 years later by the zealous persecutor of all religions, Vladimir Lenin. Thus, the Republic of Soviets integrated itself into the “earthly” time, while the Russian Church continued to live and celebrate according to the behests of Caesar. And he does this - in company with Serbian, Georgian, Polish and a small part of Greek brothers in faith - to this day.
At first glance, it would seem to be a paradox: for centuries, some Christians have rejected the technical innovation of others, but stubbornly adhere to the system introduced by God knows when by a pagan pantheist. However, social psychologists have an explanation for this strangeness: to brothers declared apostates from true faith, whatever it may be, any claims are always sharper than against strangers who were never born aware of this teaching.
Therefore, on Orthodox websites there are often statements that, they say, in fact, the old style is more accurate and correct than the Gregorian, and not vice versa. And Russian Federation now there is considerable “pluralism in one calendar”: the national holiday of Christmas is not celebrated before the same official New Year's holiday, but next year, as if in retrospect.
Rat vs rabbit
Exotic calendars, like the Indian or Hindu ones, often have a complex structure, which is why they are of little interest to most unfamiliar Europeans.
But there is an exception to their number: the Chinese or, more broadly speaking, the East Asian calendar. In Russia over the past 25 years, it has gained truly national popularity due to its relative simplicity, and most importantly, colorful images dozens of "zodiac" animals that gave birth to a mass funny pictures and home-grown horoscopes. Let us multiply this motley collection by five elements, marked different colors: This is how a complete 60-year cycle is formed. For example, full name 2015 is the year of the Green Wooden Goat.
At the origins of this system - ancient legend about how the supreme god, either Buddha or the Jade Emperor of the Taoists, chose “rulers” for each year. The cunning Rat got there before everyone else and, in addition, conquered the deity by playing the flute, so that she got the right to open each cycle. The “closing” Pig was simply requisitioned from the first peasant they met on the way to the market, when God was missing the twelfth character. It turns out that the Rat’s old friend, the favorite of the “qualifying competitions,” the Cat, shamefully overslept the appointed time: she deliberately did not wake up her competitor. That is why these animals are now in irreconcilable hostility...
However, not everything is so simple: in the Vietnamese version of the calendar, the Cat was somehow “sorry”; it is he who appears in the usual place of the Rabbit. And another pluralism has settled in European heads: here “animal” years are declared right from January 1, although according to the Eastern canon the date of their arrival is February, which sometimes exceeds the middle.
Residents of Asia itself sometimes treat their calendar traditions with a seriousness unusual for a European. In Japan, even today, girls born in the year of the Red (fire) Horse find it difficult to find a husband of their own liking: most potential suitors run away from the “alarming” sign.
Where, when and by whom the chronology was compiled, it is not as accurate as we used to think. This is exactly what I never tire of reminding you of. modern science: No attempt to comprehend the passage of time using a chronograph can be absolutely reliable.
Nevertheless, neither our workdays nor holidays can do without a calendar. Just adapt it to fantasies about numbers " new history“or, conversely, about the “end of the world,” as all past experience shows, is not the smartest or most useful idea.
Three types
With all the wealth of choice, most current and ancient calendars fall into one of three categories. Lunar ones are tied to the phases of the Moon and do not depend on the daylight - the same month can occur in spring and autumn. The lunar-solar calendar also “dances” from the phases of our neighbor, but amendments are made to it at certain intervals, returning the beginning of the year to the season where it is supposed to be within the framework of this system. Finally, the solar calendar is completely independent of the Moon.
Ritual calendars stand apart American Indians with their complex system cycles of different dimensions, the roots of which go deep into the religious and mystical jungle. Let us emphasize: they are ritual. For practical purposes, both the Mayans and Incas still used solar calendars.
February 30
Such an unusual day happened in Sweden in 1712. King Charles XII in 1699 decided to transfer the country from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, but not all at once, but gradually - without adding days in leap years for 40 years. It turned out to be difficult to implement this decision due to the confusion it created in matters. Therefore, after skipping a leap year in 1700, the Swedes still added an extra day in 1704 and 1708. As a result, Sweden lived according to its own calendar for 12 years: one day ahead of Russia and 10 days behind the rest of Europe. By 1712, Charles was tired of this strange situation, and he returned to the Julian calendar, adding two days to February.
Time discrepancy
Residents of medieval Iran, before Arab conquest Those who professed Zoroastrianism had their own lunisolar calendar. The year consisted of 12 months of 30 days and five additional days. This system produced a noticeable error over time, and to compensate for it, an additional month was introduced every 120 years. The chronology was carried out according to the years of reign of the next Shah. After the Arab invasion and the death of the last Sasanian Shah, Yazdegerd III, the “beginning of times” forever remained his accession on June 16, 632, and some of his co-religionists, fearing persecution, moved to India. Subsequent generations forgot about the insertion of an additional month, and for the Indian and Persian communities this happened at different times. As a result, their calendars diverged by about a month, and New Year, originally falling on the spring equinox, is now celebrated in the summer.
Has a very long history. He is a representative of the lunisolar calendar. As in all calendars of this type, the length of its months is alternately 29 and 30 days, every three years a 13th month is added to the Jewish calendar. This month is called Veadar; it is customary to insert it before the month of Nissan every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th year of the 19-year cycle. Nissan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, and the countdown years goes by from the seventh month called Tishri. Thanks to the periodic insertion of the month Veadara, the vernal equinox always falls on a lunation in the month of Nissan.
In the Jewish calendar there is an ordinary year, containing 12 months, and an embolismic year, the number of months in which is 13. In the embolismic year, of the 30 days of the month of Veadara, inserted before Nissan, one day is assigned to the sixth month of Adar (usually it contains 29 days), and the remaining 29 days make up the month of Veadar. In general, the Jewish calendar is a very complex calendar, like all lunisolar calendars.
Muslim calendar. Initially, the Arabs used a lunisolar calendar, which was reminiscent of the Jewish calendar. It is believed that the errors of the old calendar forced the Prophet Muhammad to abandon additional months and introduce a lunar calendar, the first year of which was 622. The year in this calendar consists of 12 months, alternately containing 29 or 30 days. The average length of the year in this calendar is 354.37 days. It is impossible to add to these 12 months an additional 13th month or an additional day to individual months to coordinate with the length of the solar year, with the exception of one additional day in leap lunar years, then the number of days increases from 354 to 355 so that the new moon is closer to first of the month. This additional day is usually added to the last month of the year and then the number of days in it is 30. All lunar calendars have two periods: a period of 8 years is called the “Turkish cycle”, a period of 30 years is called the “Arabic cycle”. Some countries of the East - Türkiye, Iran, Afghanistan - simultaneously use calendars based on both cycles. It is impossible to add to these 12 months an additional 13th month or an additional day to individual months to coordinate with the length of the solar year, with the exception of one additional day in leap lunar years, when the number of days increases from 354 to 355 so that the new moon is located close to first of the month. This additional day is included in the last month of the year and then the number of days in it is 30.
In the Muslim calendar, the beginning of the year constantly moves over time. Therefore, in the lunar calendar there are no seasons and no division of months into summer, winter, autumn and spring, due to the fact that they all fall on different times year. There are special tables for converting Muslim chronology systems into European ones.
Egyptian calendar. Initially, the Egyptian calendar was lunar. However, since the whole life of the Egyptians was closely connected with the annual floods of the Nile, they created another calendar, focusing on the appearance of the star Saturn (it appeared regularly during the summer solstice, and soon the Nile flood occurred). The Egyptian solar year contained 12 months of 30 days, at the end last month there were five additional days, so the total was 365 days. However, over time it turned out that the calendar year was a quarter of a day shorter than the solar year, and over time the calendar diverged more and more from the seasons. Watching the rising of Sirius more closely, the Egyptians came to the conclusion that 1461 Egyptian years of 365 days are equal to 1460 solar years 365.25 days each. The error had to be corrected. However, the Egyptian priests for a long time prevented any change in the calendar. And only in 238 BC. Ptolemy III issued a decree adding one day to every fourth year, i.e. introduced a leap year. Thus, the modern solar calendar was born.
Prehistoric Chinese calendar was lunar. Emperor Yao around 2357 BC, was dissatisfied with the existing lunar calendar, which was inconvenient for agriculture, and therefore ordered astronomers to determine the dates of the equinoxes and create a seasonal calendar convenient for agriculture. It was necessary to somehow reconcile the 354-day lunar calendar with the 365-day astronomical year. To resolve this situation, Chinese astronomers proposed adding 7 intercalary months every 19 years, following detailed instructions. As a result, although the solar and lunar years were basically consistent, there were still certain differences that were corrected as they reached a noticeable difference. However, the calendar was still imperfect: the years had unequal lengths, and the equinoxes fell on different dates. The year in the Chinese calendar consisted of 24 crescents. The Chinese calendar cycle is 60 years long and has several internal periods. Interestingly, every year of the Chinese calendar has a rather funny name, for example, “year of the cow”, “year of the tiger”, “hare”, “dragon”, etc. These years repeat with a period of 12 years. In 1911, the Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in the new Republic of China, and although peasants continued to use the ancient lunar calendar, it was banned in 1930.
Mayan and Aztec calendars.
The ancient civilization of the Mayan tribe had a very perfect calendar, containing 365 days, divided into 18 months of 20 days each, with another 5 days remaining, which were not classified as any month. There were 28 weeks in a year, each of which had 13 days; one day remained extra. The Mayan calendar was almost the same.
The Aztec calendar stone, built on a basalt slab measuring 3.6 m, is very interesting. This stone was discovered in Mexico, Cortez's detachment in 1519. In the center of the stone was depicted, surrounded by twenty days of the month, the Sun. Adjacent to the sun were four large rectangles in which heads were depicted, symbolizing, apparently, the dates of the four previous world eras. The heads and symbols in the rectangles of the next circle indicate the 20 days of the month. The large triangular figures represent the rays of the sun, and the two fiery serpents at the base of the outer circle represent the heat of the heavens.
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