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The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634 https://www.britishmuseum.org/coll
by blakesterz 4y ago
The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
- scoot 4y agoLinked both below the image and in the third paragraph of the post, but there aren't many more excuses, just a lot of repeats, and the article gives more context then the curators notes at that link.
- ARandomerDude 4y agoInteresting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- piethesailorman 4y agoI recently read about the Hindu seasons. Here is an off the cusp search result on the subject. https://www.learnreligions.com/the-six-seasons-of-india-p2-1770072 https://www.learnreligions.com/the-six-seasons-of-india-p2-1...
- Karawebnetwork 4y ago"Sekki is the traditional way of expressing seasons in Japan. There are 24 sekki, including rikka (立夏, the first day of summer) in early May, shoman (小満, lit. “a little full” as in growing, waxing) in late May and boshu (芒種, lit. bearded grain) in early June. The 24 sekki can be further divided into three for a total of 72 shijijūni ko (七十二侯) that last for about five days each. These subseasons include mugi no toki itaru (麦秋至), or “the time for wheat has come,” which lasts from May 31 to June 5, and kamakiri shozu (“the mantis is born”) from June 6 to June 10. " https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/just-how-many-seasons-does-japan-really-have https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/just-how-... The full list is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calendar#The_24_sekki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calendar#The_24_sekki There used to be a maintained shared Google Calendar you could use that would display those in your agenda. While the names did not fit exactly with my local weather, it was interesting to give a name to small parts of the year. It felt very natural and intuitive.
- yowlingcat 4y agoI love this. Ever since moving back into the wild from the city, it's been so nice to take notice of all the little "microseasons" you'll see inside a usual season. I took it for granted as a kid, but as an adult, it's nice to name and partake in the various parts of the year as you mention.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoFrom my perspective, anything regularly periodic in nature is used to track time: the Sun (years, seasons, days, day/dusk) and Moon (months, weeks, King tides). Consider even the starfield (astrology: years, decades+). Four seasons makes sense in all of these contexts, and I hypothesize that there are a lot of patterns in nature that are well bucketed into 4 sequential, equal seasons. This is impossible for me to demonstrate, unfortunately. Also, division by by 4 and 12, a year into four seasons is like a month into four weeks. Weeks seem to me to be among our most subjective fundamental time unit. I see weeks as being the most arbitrary. I always like to imagine what life would be like if weeks were 3 days long. Or 11. I just love this topic.
- dotancohen 4y ago> I always like to imagine what life would be like if weeks were 3 days long. Or 11. I just love this topic. I especially like that you chose prime numbers. A week composed of a prime number of days will remain the smallest indivisible group of days that a culture will have.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoAgreed, glad you called this out! I was thinking about rambling about this, but this is a topic I can go on and on about, and I was already off to a slow start today...
- dotancohen 4y agoPlease ramble! I've actually though much about this as well. It kind of forces a "holy day" because without one nothing fits into one week with any period other than "every day" or "every week" - be that week 5 or 7 or 11 days. I've heard that the seven day week was independently developed at least three times in ancient times across disparate cultures as well.
- joebob42 4y agoWell, maybe, except that months are sometimes prime numbers and we subdivide them anyways, right? I guess weeks don't exactly subdivide months, they're sort of separate systems?
- Someone 4y ago> Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons? Ancient Egyptian :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar: “The ancient Egyptian calendar – a civil calendar – was a solar calendar with a 365-day year. The year consisted of three seasons of 120 days each, plus an intercalary month of five epagomenal days treated as outside of the year proper. Each season was divided into four months of 30 days.”
- aaronharnly 4y agoSo, a better calendar than ours :(
- shagie 4y agoThe Longest Year in Human History (46 B.C.E.) - https://youtu.be/fD-R35DSSZY https://youtu.be/fD-R35DSSZY gets into the "why the year we have is designed the way it is" ... though it takes 22 minutes to get to that part. It wasn't really better as the 30 * 12 + 5 approach needed manual application of the + 5... which is what the new calendar was trying to avoid.
- ncmncm 4y agoI gather +536 felt longer.
- drocer88 4y ago"There are just two seasons in the old Icelandic calendar: [...] summer and winter." https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2015/10/21/do_you_know_your_old_icelandic_months/ https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2015/10/21/do_you_kn...
- jointpdf 4y agoThe local version of this is: there are only two seasons in Michigan—winter and construction.
- AlotOfReading 4y agoIndia (and nearby areas) famously used/uses 6 seasons. The Mayan Haab' isn't precisely a seasonal calendar, but each of the 20 'months' was used to much the same effect.
- ASalazarMX 4y agoIt's common among many ancient cultures to treat equinoxes and solstices as events of great importance, as those mark the beginning of the season change, but not all regions experience seasons the same. Ancient Egyptians, while knowledgeable of astronomy, had only three seasons: Akhet (summer/heat), Peret (flooding, of the Nile) and Shemu (harvest). Notice the conspicuous absence of winter. https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/01/28/a-year-in-three-seasons-ancient-egypts-calendar/ https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/01/28/a-year-in-three-seaso...
- irrational 4y agoOh, when it snows in Egypt (which it does do on occasion) they definitely notice the conspicuous absence of winter.
- walrus01 4y agoIn particular the traditional Persian new year (Nowruz) starts in spring, and is celebrated throughout central asia as far as Kazakhstan.
- layer8 4y agoThe roman calendar started the year in spring as well with March (hence the names September/October/November/December are literally the 7th/8th/9th/10th month). The Greek apparently were all over the place with the year starting in summer/fall/winter depending on region/polis.
- devman0 4y agoI'd heard this was because July and August (for Julius and Augustus) were added later to the calendar and originally there were only 10 months that started with January.
- layer8 4y agoI believe those were merely renamed, and the original year was 10 months from March to December, with a nondescript “winter” period between December and March.
- divbzero 4y agoAnother phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week
- thechao 4y agoThere's some ... but I think it misses two really important ones (and this is just off the top of my head): 1. The Romans had an eight day "week"; and, 2. The mesoamericans had a 260 day "week" (or, at best, interlocking 13 and 20 day "weeks"). I think the 7-day week is more of a statement about how effective the Judeo-Christian culture has imposed a modern week on the rest of the world.
- bryanrasmussen 4y ago>The Romans had an eight day "week"; and, The Beatles were Romans!
- mbg721 4y agoSo were the B-52's, but only if you wanted to.
- robinsoh 4y ago> I think the 7-day week is more of a statement about how effective the Judeo-Christian culture has imposed a modern week on the rest of the world. The 7-day week originated in Sumerian Babylon culture from 2100 BC and has to do with quartering moon phases. I worry when seeing many things attributed to "Judeo-Christian culture" which actually originated from other cultures, many aspects of what's in "Judeo-Christian culture" including perhaps some of the key stories in the Old Testament like the Flood appear to have been copied or at least inspired by stories from Sumerian culture which was considered the 'high culture' of the region.
- tigerlily 4y agoI once heard Canadians in Winnipeg joke there were but two seasons, Winter and Construction. I think this was in reference to road maintenance. In NZ these days I feel like we have two: Drought and Mudslide.
- tragictrash 4y agoI needed this today, thanks!
- pvarangot 4y agoThat's hilarious. I lived with a really cold winter and it's not only road maintenance. If you have to do some renovations at your place they sometimes also need to happen on "construction" season, even if it's inside a lot of construction workers go to other places in the winter.
- sizzzzlerz 4y agoL.A. boasts of three seasons: Drought, mudslide, and wildfire.
- dennis_jeeves1 4y agoActually it's 4: 1)Winter 2)More winter 3)Still winter and 4)Construction.
- tharkun__ 4y agoAnd also not exclusive to Winterpeg. It's used in many other parts of Canada as well. Construction season alternatively being named "orange cone season" as well as the roads are full of them.
- LawnGnome 4y agoThe Noongar of south western Australia denote six seasons: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/nyoongar.shtml http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/nyoongar.shtml
- com 4y agoMakuru was much more suitable than “winter” for the climate in Perth: time to rug up and settle in for cosy nights with your loved ones. I wish the Noongar seasons were more often used in the south west of Australia by everybody, so much more suitable than European seasons shifted 6 months!
- rightbyte 4y agoEvery place with wet season maybe?
- throwawayboise 4y agoAstronomically it seems to make the most sense, you have two solstices and two equinoxes dividing the year into four parts.
- jfk13 4y agoApparently the Sami (Lapps) have/had 8 seasons. https://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Eight-Seasons-story-Lapps/dp/9174420003 https://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Eight-Seasons-story-Lapps/dp...
- Lordarminius 4y ago> Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons? Sub saharan people (and many Asian), have two seasons, rainy and dry.
- magicroot75 4y agoCan't we use Structured Equation Modeling or ML to cluster seasons based on actual data?
- andi999 4y agoThailand has 3 seasons. Hot, cold and rainy season. The emerald buddha has three different sets of clothing to match the seasons. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha
- lIIIllllIIII 4y agoAustralian indigenous people. Varying numbers of seasons, I'm guessing depending on the climate in which they live. http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/climate_culture/Indig_seasons.shtml http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/climate_culture/Indig_seasons.shtm...
- yyyk 4y agoI can't think of an ancient Middle Eastern culture with 4 seasons. Hittites had 3, various Mesopotamian cultures had 2. It really only made sense in Europe to divide into 4.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- thom 4y agoBig day for the guy BURYING THE GOD.
- probably_wrong 4y agoI feel a connection to the guy who missed work "absent with the scribe". I know it was probably something important, but a scribe writing "that guy is excused, he was with me" makes me think of those times my boss took me for lunch and paid with the corporate card. (Of course, I'm assuming the scribe wrote this)
- moffkalast 4y agoBah gawd it's Nietzsche with a steel shovel.
- tomkat0789 4y agoTime off for illness! That's nice. I wonder if one of the HR scribes tracked the days every person took off in an analog ERP system. Scribes seemed important, maybe they outsourced the basics to contractors.
- Aardwolf 4y agoAny idea what "WITH HIS BOSS" means in there? Is that also an excuse of absence, or is that what was marked when not absent?
- jlbbellefeuille 4y ago“… On month 3 of Akhet, days 21-4, it seems that Pennub was off work because he was looking after the ill Aapehti. The most frequently recorded reason for absence is illness (over a hundred times), including 'eye trouble', and 'the scorpion stung him'; the next most frequent is being away with one's superior doing private work for him, a practice that was not forbidden if done in moderation…”
- drcode 4y agoI guess it's like when you're the assistant to a movie studio executive and he/she asks you to wash their car for them.
- Aardwolf 4y agoAt the beginning of 'Inscription position: front', it looks like it was not done in moderation
- monocasa 4y agoAs they say: everything in moderation... including moderation.
- stevenwoo 4y agoThe British Museum link has it buried under curator's notes (have to expand it)- it means they worked directly for their boss on the boss' project.
- moffkalast 4y ago> Year 40 Penduauu: month 1 of Spring, day 14 (DRINKING WITH KHONSU) "Khonsu, you have any good ideas?" "I have a bad one."
- jonathankoren 4y agoSuddenly, Moon Knight makes more sense
- hombre_fatal 4y agoLater on in the tablet, they refine it into "MAKING REMEDIES WITH KHONSU".
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoI suppose then Khonsu said "Here, hold my henqet"
- tomcam 4y agoThat was a perfect joke. Thank you.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoFetching stone for the scribe? Wrapping the corspe of his mother? Is that like "My grandma died?" Trouble with his eye - maybe all that stone dust. Strengthening the door - I wonder what door...
- marsven_422 4y ago
- 988747 4y agoHow is "With his boss" an excuse?
- layer8 4y agoFrom the curator’s comments: “[The] next most frequent [reason for absence] is being away with one’s superior doing private work for him, a practice that was not forbidden if done in moderation.”
- inglor_cz 4y agoBREWING THE BEER is a good excuse, ngl.
- jamesfisher 4y agocat excuses | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn 67 ILL 49 WITH HIS BOSS 17 BREWING BEER 13 WITH AAPEHTI 8 WITH THE SCRIBE 6 MAKING REMEDIES FOR THE SCRIBE’S WIFE 5 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS MOTHER 5 OFFERING TO THE GOD 5 HIS WIFE WAS BLEEDING 5 FETCHING STONE FOR THE SCRIBE 4 WITH KHONS MAKING REMEDIES 4 SUFFERING WITH HIS EYE 4 OFF ABSENT 4 HIS DAUGHTER WAS BLEEDING 3 WITH HOREMWIA 3 WITH HIS BOSS DITTO 3 LIBATING TO HIS FATHER 2 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS SON 2 HIS MOTHER WAS ILL 2 HIS FEAST 2 FETCHING STONE FOR QENHERKHEPSHEF 2 BURYING THE GOD 1 WITH HIS GOD 1 THE SCORPION BIT HIM 1 STRENGTHENING THE DOOR 1 OFFFERING TO THE GOD 1 OFFERING TO HIS GOD 1 OFF ABSENT WITH THE SCRIBE 1 MOURNING HIS SON 1 LIBATING FOR HIS SON 1 LIBATING FOR HIM 1 LIBATING 1 EMBALMING HORMOSE 1 EMBALMING HIS BROTHER 1 DRINKING WITH KHONSU 1 BUILDING HIS HOUSE
- nyx_land 4y ago> BURYING THE GOD Thousands of years later and yet who among us hasn't missed work to bury God?
- hprotagonist 4y agoaround here it’s an annual day off.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- zrobotics 4y agoWell, the whole point of the holiday is he didn't stay buried.
- 2000UltraDeluxe 4y agoHence the need to do it repeatedly.
- ben_w 4y ago
- thisistheend123 4y agoWhat's it doing in a "British" museum?