African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 25
architect oversees all the rituals associated with building, the aligning the house and
setting of the door are the only items of celestial importance assigned to him that are
mentioned.
There are many archaeological sites in Africa in which astronomical alignments have
been recorded. However, most studies are of unoccupied sites and therefore cultural
connections are often only hypothetical but are occasionally supported by local practice.
Blier’s study is important because it is both a study of an occupied site and a record of the
significance attributed to the alignments by present-day inhabitants.
Calendars
The determination of the calendar year was of vital importance to people all over the
world. Times for migration, planting, harvesting, and hunting needed to be accurately
determined and thus an exact calendar was needed. Since few cultures understood or
practiced the mathematics necessary to calculate the parameters of the Earth’s orbit
around the Sun, all calendars must have been based on years and sometimes generations
of observations. Thus, the determination of the calendar relied upon recognizing and
recording celestial events; however, the method of preserving the knowledge varies.
There are three types of African calendars—lunar, solar, and stellar calendars—with
the combination calendar being the fourth. Lunar calendars are based upon observations
of the moon. One lunar cycle is 29.5 days. The Islamic and Jewish calendars are both
lunar calendars. The problem is that combinations of lunar cycles do not add up to a
calendar year. Twelve lunar cycles is equal to 354 days; while thirteen lunar cycles is
383.5 days. Two examples of African ethnic groups that rely primarily on lunar calendars
are the Ngas of Nigeria and the Mursi of Ethiopia. The Ngas have a system in which the
new year is determined by the last new moon before harvest. The last new moon is
marked by a complicated ceremony referred to as “shooting the moon” (LaPin 1984). The
ceremony has to take place the day before the new moon is sighted, and symbolizes the
high priest (Gwolong Kum) and the Ngas people capturing and killing the moon, which is
deified, for it to be reborn in the new year (the next day). Ideas of rebirth, renewal, and
cleansing by killing the past are all incorporated into the changing of the year for the
Ngas. The Mursi primarily follow a lunar calendar, but use agricultural activities and
celestial markers to determine which is the current month. As such, the month names are
not fixed and are debated until these secondary markers are seen (Turton and Ruggles
1978).
The solar calendars involve observing the position of the sun over the course of the
year. The solstices mark the northern and southern extremes of the Sun’s position.
Measuring the year from winter solstice to winter solstice is 365.24 days. This is called
the tropical year and is 20 minutes short of the calendar year. Stellar calendars involve
observing the position of stars. The ancient Egyptian calendar is a stellar calendar.
Marking the time from seeing a star, for example Aldebaran, at sunset on the horizon,
until the next time Aldebaran appears on the horizon at sunset is 365.25 days. This
measures the true year or the calendar year.
The Akan of Ghana are part of the Niger-Congo linguistic group, and dominate Ghana
north of Accra. They migrated into this region, displacing the Guan people several