Any Pre-colonial Somali calendar system?

[Abdirisak Mohamed]

MR AH ABDULLAHI (g95a...@giraffe.ru.ac.za) wrote:
> I was doing some research,i did some interviews and some of the oldmen
> started counting the years using the days ie Sabti,Axad,isniin etc and each

I am not sure, but that somali old man seems to be an algebraist.
The week ( sabti, axad, isniin ...) has seven days. Now look into
the integers modulo 7 and you get the rest classes. In popular terms,
divide the number of days in the year by seven and note the rest.
If the old somali man knows that this year begins on monday, he could use
the above to count backwards.
--
Abdirisak Mohamed

[MR AH ABDULLAHI]

dear netters,
I would like to find out and confirm if there was a calender system unique
to the Somalis in pre-colonial era.Why I am posting this question is,whilst

I was doing some research,i did some interviews and some of the oldmen
started counting the years using the days ie Sabti,Axad,isniin etc and each

day represented a year.Was there something like that?So that I may be able
to verify and ascertain the correctness and authenticity of what ever I
collected.
please anybody out there to elaborate on these vital aspect of Somali
history that is almost undocumented?
thanks.
Abdirashid.

[osman salad hersi]

Abdirisak Mohamed (ua...@rzstud1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de) wrote:
> MR AH ABDULLAHI (g95a...@giraffe.ru.ac.za) wrote:

> > I was doing some research,i did some interviews and some of the oldmen
> > started counting the years using the days ie Sabti,Axad,isniin etc and each

> I am not sure, but that somali old man seems to be an algebraist.
> The week ( sabti, axad, isniin ...) has seven days. Now look into
> the integers modulo 7 and you get the rest classes. In popular terms,
> divide the number of days in the year by seven and note the rest.
> If the old somali man knows that this year begins on monday, he could use
> the above to count backwards.
> --
> Abdirisak Mohamed

It is true that the somali people (or at least the nomads of the Mudug
region as far as I know) use the days of the week (sabti, .....) to indicate
certain year but this doesn't mean that the years begin successively with
the same order of the week days. Each year randomly begins with any day of
the week, people memorize that day and label it with its year. In terms of
calendering the year, the somalis follow the Islamic calender but with
local names for the months: Dago = Muxarram, Safar? =Safar, Afarta bila
samman = form Rabiical Awal to Jamadul Aakhir, Rajalo hore and Rajalo dambe
= Rajab and Shacbaan; Soonqaad = Ramadhaan, Soonfur = Shawaal, Sidataal =
Dul Qacdi, and Arrafo (probably form the day of Carrafa) = Dul Xijah.
Another way of calandering is based on taking reference relative to events
happened in the past, e.g. some one was born a year before Abaartii
Baastaaley or Dayrtii Yaxoob Dheere (a rainy and prosperous Dayr about
1963) , etc. An other system of calendering is a reference with the Gu'
season. Normally the Gu' season is from April to June and any who
penefitted from any Gu' season is added one year to his/her age, e.g a
child who was born in august missed the water of the previeous Gu' and
await for the comming Gu' (April-June of the following year) to be GU'-JIR
whereas someone who was born in the Middle of the Gu' season (say May) will
automatically be GU'-JIR since he/she penefitted from that Gu'. There is
what seems to me a pre-Islamic calender for the Somalis and Dab-shidka
which indicates the beginning of a new year is what remained from this
Pre-Islamic calendering. The Dab-shidka is still used in southern Somalia
and although there is no any festival, the name still remained in the
minds of the grandfathers/mothers in central Somalia. There is an
equivalent word used probably in northern Somalia; that is Nayruus or
Nawriis from a Persian origin; Nowruuz; now = new, ruuz = day. The
Iranians celebrate this day untill today and it marks the beginning of a
new year which matches the beginning of the spring season (21 March).

Allah knows better

Osman Salad Hersi

[Abdirisak Mohamed]

osman salad hersi (osh...@superior.carleton.ca) wrote:
> It is true that the somali people (or at least the nomads of the Mudug
> region as far as I know) use the days of the week (sabti, .....) to indicate
> certain year but this doesn't mean that the years begin successively with
> the same order of the week days. Each year randomly begins with any day of

I don't know what you mean by "randomly begins with any day..."
The basic assumption is that the number of days in a year is constant.
It makes sense in the somali case, since you have thirty days in a month
times 12 months, which is 360 days. Then, it follows that when you divide
by seven, the rest is three. That means, if this year begins on a monday,
the next begins on a thursday, then on a sunday, on a wednesday, on a
saturday, on a tuesday, on a friday ( these are seven years ). Now the
it repeats i.e the 8th year begins with a monday...
Probably you mean by "random" that the beginning days are not in the order:
Isniin, talaado, arbaco ...
You can always do that upto a permutation.

Fazit: The day a year begins repeats itself once every seven years.

--
Abdirisak Mohamed

[Doug Person]

Abdirahman,
What a great question and its great that you are researching some of
these important Somali cultural things! Keep up the good work. I will
give you what little info. I can on this subject.

First, the best published document for information on the pre-colonial
Somali calander is a manuscript called "The Terminology and Practice of
Somali Weather Lore, Astronomy and Astrology" by Muusa H.I Galaal.
(77 pages, published by the author in Mogadishu in 1968) He did his
research all over the area where Somali people live from north to south
and it has a lot of information about the Somali calander system as well
as how the movement of stars and changing of whether was understood by
the elders. I have a photocopy of it but a friend is borrowing it at the
moment so I can't quote you anything out of it. If you're interested I
may be able to help you obtain a copy or you may find it at a university
library near you.

Second, a brief quote from I.M.Lewis "Peoples of the Horn of Africa"p.64:
"Years are united in seven-year cycles named after the day of the
week in which they began. The first year of the cycle is the
"Sabti" year and the last the "Jimce" year. Cycles are remembered
and named after important events which occurred in the course of
them. For example, "isniin orrax-madown" the Monday year of the
black sun, evidently refers to an eclipse; khamiista Shidla-guur",
the Thursday year of the migration of the Shidle. The day of the
new year, "dabshid" or "neyruus", is celebrated...."
This is part of a 4 page section on time reconing (pp.62-65) found in
this book which you can probably find at any university library. He is
here quoting research which was done by an Italian named Enrico Cerulli
before 1923 around the Shabeelle River area in southern Somalia.

Finally, I have had Somali friends who talked about "Siddeed gur" and
"Konton gur" - the years coming around in seven year cycles with a famine
or large disaster every eight years and then after seven sets of seven
years (49) years a major drought or famine coming on the 50th year. This
proved to be true in 1984 and 1992 in the local area at least.

Hope this info. is of some help to you on this question.
Sincerely,
Doug

[Othman Alsheikh Issa]

g95a...@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR AH ABDULLAHI) wrote:
>dear netters,
>I would like to find out and confirm if there was a calender system >unique to the Somalis in pre-colonial era

You're already saying it!!! Sabti, Axad, Isniin and the rest of the days
of the week are in the muslim Hijra calendar and that's what the people
in Somaliland used and still use in addition to the gregorian. If
communities in Somalia used different calendar because of their diverse
ethnic origin, I do not have any knowledge.

O. Issa

[Abdirisak Mohamed]

Doug Person (dpe...@mail.daka.com) wrote:
> "Years are united in seven-year cycles named after the day of the
> week in which they began. The first year of the cycle is the
> "Sabti" year and the last the "Jimce" year. Cycles are remembered

At last someone verified anthropologically what I hypothesized
algebraically. Thanks, sir. My admiration goes to these "ancient" colleagues
around Shabeele river.

--
Abdirisak

[faisal ahmed hassan]

Doug Person:

A great work in sharing with us in your knowledge in Somali Astronomy and
Astrology. As a matter of fact, I did enjoy reading. However, I must
disgree with you in your last conclusion which you have stated that
"the years coming ......this proved to be true in 1984 and 1992 in the local
area at least"

The famine or large disaster that you're referring in 1984. It did
occurred in Ethiopia not in Somalia.

Secodly, the famine or large disaster that you're referring that
occurred in Somalia was due to the prolong civil-war but not drought or
anything like that. This famine is the result of the war that is still
going on in the country. But, not a scientific prediction of drought.
Nabad
Faisal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[osman salad hersi]

Things are not as simple as you calculated. We know that the lunar month
is 29.5 days +or - 13 hours. This means that it is not always 30 days but
the moon cycle can be complete in a range of about 24 hours from 29
days to 30 days. This implies that there will be descripancies between
the 30-day month of your calculation and the real, continuously changing
(in the range of hours, minutes and seconds as well, month after month)
lenght of the months of the lunar year. If you refer this difference in an
archeological age (hundreds to thousands of years), the defferential hours
and minutes are enough to shift the supposed day of the beginning of the
year according to your three-day-based succession. On the other hand, if
you refer the difference in a geologic time (millions of years, 20 billion
years elapsed from the Big Bang event), I think the seconds will suffice
to create an enormous shifting on the day that the Dabshid would be
according to your calculation.
Meanwhile I would like to correct a mistake in my previous posting. The
months of Rajalo Hore and R. Dambe belong to the Afarta Bilo Samman and not
the seventh and the eighth months of the year as I stated before. The
latter two months are Sabuux and Soondheere, respectively.

> Fazit: The day a year begins repeats itself once every seven years.

This is only valid when the lunar year is precisely 30 days long, but
differences in seconds among the lengths of the lunar months can
enormously alter the sequence.

Osman Salad

[Abdirisak Mohamed]

osman salad hersi (osh...@superior.carleton.ca) wrote:
> Things are not as simple as you calculated. We know that the lunar month
> is 29.5 days +or - 13 hours. This means that it is not always 30 days but
> the moon cycle can be complete in a range of about 24 hours from 29
> days to 30 days. This implies that there will be descripancies between
> the 30-day month of your calculation and the real, continuously changing
> (in the range of hours, minutes and seconds as well, month after month)

Do you know why there is a leap year in the gregorian thing ?

> year according to your three-day-based succession. On the other hand, if
> you refer the difference in a geologic time (millions of years, 20 billion
> years elapsed from the Big Bang event), I think the seconds will suffice
> to create an enormous shifting on the day that the Dabshid would be
> according to your calculation.

I didn't know that the somali existed billions of years. May be that is why
their problems are complicated ? ( belo nimaan arag baa ka sheekeeya).

> > Fazit: The day a year begins repeats itself once every seven years.

> This is only valid when the lunar year is precisely 30 days long, but
> differences in seconds among the lengths of the lunar months can
> enormously alter the sequence.

There is still a misunderstanding. Forget about the numerical example, and
assume ( empirically justifiable in the lifetime of the somali species)
that the number of days in a year is constant. Then my claim holds.

--
Abdirisak Mohamed

[Doug Person]

faisal ahmed hassan <fha...@io.UWinnipeg.ca> wrote:
>
>Doug Person:
>
>A great work in sharing with us in your knowledge in Somali Astronomy >and Astrology. As a matter of fact, I did enjoy reading.

Thanks for you kind words and I was glad to be able to share this info.
I must clarify, however, most of what I shared was not "my knowledge" but
I was rather quoting from I.M. Lewis's book "Peoples of the Horn of
Africa" originally published 1955 and recently(1994) republished by HAAN
Associates in London. He was quoting from earlier research done by
Enrico Cerulli who spent some time in southern Somalia just after the
turn of the century (1900) and published this particular information in
1923. You could probably find Lewis's book at a university library and
the pages I referred to were 64 & 65. I just wanted to give credit where
credit is due.

>However, I must
>disgree with you in your last conclusion which you have stated that
>"the years coming ......this proved to be true in 1984 and 1992 in the >local area at least"
>
>The famine or large disaster that you're referring in 1984. It did
>occurred in Ethiopia not in Somalia.
>
>Secodly, the famine or large disaster that you're referring that
>occurred in Somalia was due to the prolong civil-war but not drought or
>anything like that. This famine is the result of the war that is still
>going on in the country. But, not a scientific prediction of drought.
>Nabad
>Faisal.

Thanks again for your constructive criticism on the last part of what I
said. Perhaps I should clarify a bit. I was here reporting how my
Somali friend, who is from a nomadic background, analyzed and
characterized the situation when I queried him about it. I believe he
also reflects the traditional wisdom on the subject. For him the
fact that "col" and "abaar" occured together constituted the major
disaster which could be expected or explained because the "sideed gur"

time had come about. Here is what I said:

>>
>> Finally, I have had Somali friends who talked about "Siddeed gur" and
>> "Konton gur" - the years coming around in seven year cycles with a famine
>> or large disaster every eight years and then after seven sets of seven
>> years (49) years a major drought or famine coming on the 50th year. This
>> proved to be true in 1984 and 1992 in the local area at least.

I realize that there was a wide spread famine in Ethiopia which was
widely publicized by the international news media, (this too was caused
partly by civil war and partly by drought in Ethiopia), but I was not
referring to that. It happened that in the particular area where I was
working in both 1984 and 1992 a local civil conflict and a drought
combined to cause major famine which forced many people to leave their
normal life in the "baaddiye" and settle in squatter camps near the
"beled" in hopes of getting famine relief food. We have to be careful
not to put our "post-enlightenment", "so-called scientific" world view on
to other folks who may view things more wholistically. In this
world the "col" and the "abaar" may have one and the same cause. Their
way of understanding what happens in the world may not be any less valid
than ours.

Nabad,
Doug

[Doug Person]

Osman,

Maybe we are getting away from the point of the original question which
was: Any Pre-colonial Somali calendar system?

Whether the lunar month is exactly 29 or 30 days or not the fact remains
1) that there is quite detailed written documentation, collected from
pre-colonial Somali sources, that there was a paralell solar and lunar
Somali calendar system in use; 2) that those folks were astute enough to
be aware of the mathematical discrepencies and the need for periodic
adjustment of the reckoning of times and seasons; 3) that they were able
to make the necessary adjustments by observing patterns of certain stars
and planets and using the lunar calander to adjust the solar calander
dates e.g. that of "Dabshid"; and 4) that they were able to use this
calander system to help them in their understanding of the seasons and
how they affected their life.

Let me quote once again from I.M.Lewis's book "Peoples of the Horn of
Africa" (1955,1994) who is releying largely on Enrico Cerulli's research
done before 1923, 1929 & 1931 when he published his writings in Italian:

"TIME RECKONING
The Somali have a lunar and a solar calendar. The latter is used to
calculate the date of the two annual wet seasons, knowledge of which is
equally important to the cultivators of the south who order their sowing
accordingly, and to the northern nomads in the regulation of
stock-movements to new pasture. The beginning of the solar year is
celebrated in the fire-feast of "dabshid." There are two methods of
calculating "dabshid," one approximate and dependent upon the lunar
calendar and the other, accurate and esoteric(understood only by a
select few), based on observation of the occultation(hiding of one
heavenly body by another passing between it and the observer, eg. the
occultation of a star by the moon) of Spica(Somali = "Dirir").
The solar year among the Majeerteen has two divisions: i)"dayr", the
dry season of little rain lasting 180 days and divided into six 30-day
periods, and ii) "toddobadii-dirir", divided into seven sub-periods
determined in the accurate method of standardization by the
occultation(defined above) of "dirir".
THE SOLAR YEAR
Part 1: Dayr - divided into six 30 day periods (180 days)
Habar'ari (30 days)
Diraac'go' (30 days)
Himir (30 days)
Axal (30 days)
Musareemo (30 days)
Lifato (30 days)
Part 2: Toddobadii-Dirir(The Seven Dirir) - divided into seven
sub-periods Lekhor
Toddob
Amminla'
Fushade
Gu'soore
Samoolad
Dirir Sagaaro
This occultation of Dirir occurs two nights earlier each lunar
cycle(about 29 and half days), so that if the occultation marking the
beinning of the month of "lekhor" is on the 21st day of the lunar cycle,
then the following occultation, which marks the beginning of "toddob",
falls on the 19th day of the next lunar month. The occultation of
"lekhor", which begins the second half of the year, occurs always between
the 19th, 20th and 21st days of the corresponding lunation, which permits
the first day of the second half of the solar year to be determined by
observation of Spica(Dirir) at this period of the corresponding Islamic
month. This degree of precision in reckoning by the stars is only known
to the "wadaad" (ritual and stellar expert) while in daily usage dates
are fixed with in the solar year by reference to lunar cycles which
generally have Somali names and correspond to the Islamic calendar. ...
The lunar calendar supplies the approximate method of calculating
the date of the solar new year, "dabshid." Each new year begins in the
same lunar month, but 10 days later than the preceding year. Thus if one
new year falls on the third day of the Islamic lunar month of "rajab",
the next solar year begins on the 13th day of that month. The lunar
month in which the new year falls in conventionally defined to last 30
days. This method is sufficiently accurate for the seasonal movements of
the nomads when they are out of touch with their stellar expert(wadaad)
who can make the accurate calculation based on obserbations of the
occulatation of Spica(Dirir). Thus the Somali solar year which is used
for practical purposes depends upon the Islamic lunar calendar for its
standardization and orientation."

Hope this is helpful.
Nabad.
Doug

[Abdullahi Abukar]

Walaal Cabdullaahi:

Inkastoo su'aasha badankeedii laga jawaabay (sannadaha maalmaha lagu
magacaabo) waxa halkan ku xusan bilaha sannadka iyo sida ay Soomaalidu u
adeegsato/taqaan.

Taariikhda Dayaxa (Lunar callender):

Taariikhdan waxa badanaaba isticmaala badmaaxyada Soomaalida, waana 360
maalmood oo u qaybsan min 180 maalmood. Doonyaleyda waxay ku safraan
xilliyada ama dabaysha jihadeeda. Bilaha qaansooyinka ku jira waxaa laga
isticmaalaa xeebaha koonfureed.

1. Soon
2. Soonfur
3. Sidataal "gu"
4. Arrafo
5. Sako "Diraac"
6. Safar
7. Rabii'ul Awal (Mowliid )
8. Rabii'ul Aakhir (Maalmadoone) "Xagaa"
9. Jamaadal Awal
10. Jamaadal Aakhir
11. Rajab (Aw Osman)
12. Shacbaan (Aw Baa Hassan, Soondheere) "Dayr"

Taariikhda Qorraxda (Solar Callender):

Bilahan waxa isticmaala reer xoolodhaqatada. Waxay u dhigmaan taariikhda
reer Yurub ay isticmaasho, waxaana ku jira afar xilli oo labana (dayr iyo
gu') roobku da'o labana (Diraac iyo Xagaa) uu dhulku qallalan yahay.

1. Toddobo January
2. Amminla' Febraury
3. Fushade "Gu'" March
4. Gusoore (Samoolad) April
5. Lixadhaqo (Laxadhaqo,
6. Cawli ku dhashay) May
7. Dabooje "Xagaa" June
8. Diraacgood July
9. Habarari August
10. Ximir "Dayr" September
11. Axal October
12. Xays (Xaysin, Yaare) November
13. Lixkor (Laxkor) "Diraac" December

Tixraac: Axmed Cartan Xaange (1984) "Dalkii Udgoonaa", bog 97-104.

Nabadey,

Cadullaahi Abuukar.

MR AH ABDULLAHI (g95a...@giraffe.ru.ac.za) wrote:
: dear netters,
: I would like to find out and confirm if there was a calender system unique

: to the Somalis in pre-colonial era.Why I am posting this question is,whilst
: I was doing some research,i did some interviews and some of the oldmen

: started counting the years using the days ie Sabti,Axad,isniin etc and each

: day represented a year.Was there something like that?So that I may be able
: to verify and ascertain the correctness and authenticity of what ever I

[MR AH ABDULLAHI]

Walaal Abdullahi Abukar,
Aad iyo aad ayaad umahasantahay.Walaal iga rali ohoo af hoyo maagaan sitha
loqoro.Suasheitha waxai ahad,othei ayaan malma aan baaritan haga tarihktha
Somaaliyeed kawiediye.Iga raalinogho please.
I asked one old man about certain events like when did the first whiteman
appear in part of Somali inhabitted region.The Oldman never went any school
so he started counting the years backwards using the days.For example he
said,Sabti,axad,isniin,taladho,Arbaco,khamis,Jumca.And then he asked me how
many days.I meekly answered seven.Then he said add two more days.which I did.
And then he said the whiteman appeared not more than 90 years ago!So I was
wondering if such a thing really existed in pre-literate Somali Society.
I was just merely confirming it.
Thanks a million brother.
Abdirashid

In article <DrLIBD.5x...@torfree.net> cc...@torfree.net (Abdullahi Abukar) writes:
>From: cc...@torfree.net (Abdullahi Abukar)
>Subject: Re: Any Pre-colonial Somali calendar system?
>Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 09:57:13 GMT