"December 23 is not ruled by any tree for it is the traditional day of the proverbial "Year and a Day" in the earliest courts of law."
Who can tell me what this means? Is it that the end of the year was the 23. IE; a year on the 22nd and a year and a day would make it the 23rd?
I just stumbled across this as I was reading bits and pieces about the celtic tree. I was looking for "my" tree only to find that I'm without one! Any info or link would be appreciated.
2007-03-27 17:37:38 · 3 answers · asked by thoughts_in_a_blender 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
You DO have a tree! But you will have to read to the bottom of this answer to find it. (Why should I do all this digging, just to give away my discovery right away?)
Your reference to December 23rd as being "not ruled by any tree for it is the traditional day of the proverbial 'Year and a Day' in the earliest courts of law" results from a supposition of Robert Graves, inspired by the earlier studies (and fabrications) of Edward Davies. Graves mistakenly named December 23rd as 'New Year's Day' for the Celts. That was not so: November 1st (Samhain) was the start of the Celtic year. See Source [1].
Source [2] confirms November 1st that was New Year’s Day (Samhain) for the Celts, and offers a discussion of the contending theories about the duration-cycle of the Celts' calendar: -
[a] A 13 lunar month year, requiring one or two make-up days for adjustments?
[b] A 19-year time cycle that equaled 235 lunar months and had an error of only half a day?
Source [3] below segregates December 23 as a stand-alone day, not ruled by any tree, but instead being "The Secret of the Unhewn Stone".
Source [4] quotes the poem "The Song of Amergin", in which December 23rd is singled out with this phrase: -
"Who but I knows the secret of the unhewn dolmen?"
("dolmen" refers to a trilithon - two menhir, or standing stones, capped with a lentil.)
Source [5] gives you a tree for December 23rd - and rather a special one at that: you can, if you like, claim Mistletoe as your tree!
2007-03-28 01:48:35 · answer #1 · answered by Gromm's Ghost 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The whole "tree" thing appears to be an invention by Robert Graves - he seems to be the source of the claim that the Celts measured the year in that manner.
2007-03-29 15:01:14 · answer #2 · answered by ArcadianStormcrow 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
www.wikipedia.com......you may find your answer there.
2007-03-28 01:13:19 · answer #3 · answered by Hi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋