<< Feature Articles >> Kokino Calendar
Submitted by Gjore_Cenev on Sunday, 28 January 2007 Page Views: 7472
EnvironmentCountry: North Macedonia
Land cultivation and planned crop-growing gave people huge and sustainable quantities of food as a guarantee for peaceful life and survival in the severe surrounding. People started building permanent settlements, and learned crafts when agriculture and livestock breading started to appear. All these diverse activities impose the need for better and greater organization of the community as well as the division of the tasks and responsibilities.
Even earlier than the occurrence of these developments, people had noticed the link between Sun movements and changes happening with the biological cycle of the plants. Based on their accumulated experience they all knew how and when to collect the fruits of the plants, but in order to have better crops it was necessary to accurately determine the plants seeding time periods.
Therefore the need for time measuring and determination of the periods for the beginning and finishing of the agricultural works emerged. In the past, places such as the Kokino Megalithic Observatory actually had this role and purpose.
As with other ancient observatories, movements of the Sun and the Moon were observed and marked on Kokino as well. Three stone markers have been clearly identified on Kokino for the purpose of marking the places where the Sun rises in the days of the winter solstice, summer solstice and equinox.
Also, four other stone markers have been identified for marking the position of the Moon rise in the days of the summer and winter major standstills of the Moon, as well as the places for the summer and winter minor standstills of the Moon. Researches in the last few months have shown that there are two other markers used for measuring the length of the synodic or lunar month. In addition to this as additional information the length of the lunar month in winter is 29 days, and in summer the length is 30 days. Thus, for the first time there are evidences that in one observatory not just Moon movement and the phases were observed but also that time was really measured.
A stone block found in the Kokino Observatory has special markers for the places of the Moon rise in the day of winter major standstill (fig.1) and in the day of next raise of the Full Moon, 29 days later (fig.2) known as a lunar month length (fig.3). Same stone block as the above mentioned can be found for the summer period used for measuring the lunar month length, when the length of the lunar month is 30 days.
The evidence leads us to the clearly emerging fact that on the Kokino Megalithic Observatory people knew about the 19 years cycle of the same calendar day appearing in the same phase of the Moon, and that the length of the winter months is 29 days, and summer months is 30 days. Observing the Sun movements, ancient inhabitants around Kokino knew that in the course of one year there were 12 or 13 months, taking into consideration the fact that they knew that in the cycle of 19 years there are 12 years with 12 lunar months and 7 years with 13 lunar months.
In accordance to the existing markers it can be confirmed that the year was divided on two seasons: winter and summer. During the winter, each of those six months had 29 days, and during the summer each of the six summer months had 30 days of length. In the "leap years", those seven years, one summer month was added with 30 days of length. In the 19 years cycle each 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18 year had 13 months. Measured in such way, the difference between the length of the lunar and tropical years disappears each 8 years, and at the end of the 19 years cycle only 3 days are added. This is the method used for development of the Kokino Calendar.
This method of calendar development is similar to the so called Metonov cycle, discover with theoretical methods and measurements by the Meton in the 5th century B.C. In this cycle again we have cycle of 19 years where 7 years contain 13 lunar months, where in six years we have one lunar month with a length of 30 days added, and in the seventh year we have one lunar month with 29 days length added. Meton calculations are base on the tropical year length of 365 days in which way at the end of the 19 years cycle we have equalization of the lengths of the lunar and the solar cycle.
Kokino Calendar development principles and the differences with the cycle of Meton are presented in the following table:
| Year in the Kokino Calendar | Number of the Lunar months | Number of days | Number of days in a tropical year | Difference in days with the tropical year | Number of days in the Metonov Cycles | Difference in days with the tropical year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -11 | 354 | -11 |
| 2 | 13 | 384 | 365 | +8 | 354 | -22 |
| 3 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -3 | 384 | -3 |
| 4 | 12 | 354 | 366 | -15 | 354 | -15 |
| 5 | 13 | 384 | 365 | +4 | 354 | -26 |
| 6 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -7 | 384 | -7 |
| 7 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -18 | 354 | -18 |
| 8 | 13 | 384 | 366 | 0 | 354 | -30 |
| 9 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -11 | 384 | -11 |
| 10 | 13 | 384 | 365 | +8 | 354 | -22 |
| 11 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -3 | 384 | -3 |
| 12 | 12 | 354 | 366 | -15 | 354 | -15 |
| 13 | 13 | 384 | 365 | +4 | 354 | -26 |
| 14 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -7 | 384 | -7 |
| 15 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -18 | 354 | -18 |
| 16 | 13 | 384 | 366 | 0 | 354 | -30 |
| 17 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -11 | 384 | -11 |
| 18 | 13 | 384 | 365 | +8 | 354 | -22 |
| 19 | 12 | 354 | 365 | -3 | 383 | -4 |
The archaeoastronomical analysis has shown that the starting years of the Kokino Calendar were years such as 1848 BCE, 1829 BCE, 1810 BCE, 1792 BCE, etc. New Year started on the day of the winter solstice. In all 19 years, only in the starting years the night with New Moon was followed by the morning of the day of the solstice.
This was of a special importance for the people in that time, not just as a start of the new calendar cycles but also in religious sense as a day with the enormous potential for new birth and renovation of the power of the Sun and the Moon, and as part of that of the renovation of the faith of the people for renewal of the life of the people, animals and plants.
By Gjore Cenev
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