Time and the Calendar
The four-day week and its orisa, the lunar month and the thirteen-month year, how festivals were dated, and how a four-day week now coexists with a seven-day one.
intermediatecontested·
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The four-day week and its orisa, the lunar month and the thirteen-month year, how festivals were dated, and how a four-day week now coexists with a seven-day one.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Yoruba people calculate time based on four-day week. Every oda tin inside di system, like market cycle, ritual cycle, month and year, na on top dat unit and di multiples of eight and sixteen dem build am . Dis four-day week no be just old story from past: na still wetin plenty Yoruba markets dey use run till today, even though people don dey call di days with dia English names now .
Confidence for dis file dey marked as contested because of one clear reason. Di four-day week, how dem link di days to òrìṣà, and di general use of four and di multiples of four, get solid evidence. But di full calendar for di whole year, di thirteen months wey get names and how dem match with Gregorian calendar, no get plenty written record, na mostly from wetin traditional worshippers dey do today dem take put am together instead of solid historical record from past, and different versions dey waka round online wey no agree with each oda or with wetin scholars write. Anywhere wey claim dey depend on dat kind weak base, dis file talk am clearly.
Di traditional week, ọ̀sẹ̀, na four days, and each day get di òrìṣà wey own am. Di oral tradition, wey Ifá literature trace back to odù Ọ̀fún and Ogbè Ọ̀bàrà, talk say na Elédùmarè give di four-day week to di òrìṣà . Di days as Sogbesan record dem:
Di order no be di same everywhere. Different family lines and regional traditions dey arrange di days differently, and different published lists dey start di week from different points, so if reader see different order for another place, e no mean say mistake dey. Wetin remain di same across all di accounts na say four days dey, each day carry worship obligation, and Ọ̀rúnmìlà and Ifá dey attached to di cycle: di work wey Omo-Dare do on Ifá record say Ifá priests dey meet on di first day of di Yoruba week , wey be di practice wey dem know as Ọ̀sẹ̀ Ifá, di four-day Ifá worship wey babaláwo still dey keep till today.
Di Ifá verse wey Omo-Dare quote need careful handling, because people don dispute di translation.
Ifá lolòní Ifá lolòla Ifá ló lọ́túnla pẹ̀lú ẹ Ọ̀rúnmìlà ló jí ná mẹ́rẹ̀ẹ̀rin òòsà dààyé
Ifá / own / today, Ifá / own / tomorrow, Ifá / own / di-day-after-tomorrow / with / you, Ọ̀rúnmìlà / na-im / [wake up and] / di-four / òrìṣà / [bring/establish] to-earth.
Ifa is the master of today Ifa is the master of tomorrow Ifa is the master of the day after tomorrow To Ifa belongs all the four days established by God on earth
Translator: di English na Omo-Dare own as Sogbesan reproduce am; di transcription follow Sogbesan own, with diacritics wey dem add here, and di literal gloss na my own.
Sogbesan point out di disagreement straight: di verse dey point to four deities, and how dem translate di last line as "to Ifa belongs all the four days established by God on earth" no prove say di four days wey God create belong to Ifá . For his own reading, wetin di Yoruba talk na say Ọ̀rúnmìlà bring di four òrìṣà come earth, wey be claim about deities, but di English translation turn am to claim about days wey Ifá own, wey be claim about calendar. Dis one na small but useful example of how translation fit carry institutional interest, and make reader note say di first three lines clearly count three days wey follow each oda, so di way dem connect di verse to day cycle no be wetin dem just invent, na only di ownership claim for di fourth line dey open to argument. Sogbesan transcription for di original publication no get tone marks; di diacritics wey dey here na reconstruction and make person take am as medium confidence.
Why four. Sogbesan report say di Aboòrìṣà reason connect to cosmology, no be just random choice: di calculation depend on number four and di multiples of eight and sixteen, wey link to di belief say universe start from four corners wey come meet for centre to form circle, pattern wey dem dey call òrìta, di junction . E apply di same principle to how dem dey plan town, with di house of village head for centre while compounds spread out from am, and compound head house dey for centre of di family compound . Whether person agree with di cosmological explanation or not, di observation say four-part arrangement dey show up across di calendar, di divination system, and di built environment na real tin, and sixteen, ẹ̀rìndínlógún, na of course di number of main odù.
Market and week na di same tin. Markets dey run on di four-day cycle with neighbouring towns wey arrange dia own for different days, so dat di week wey trader dey follow and di week wey worshipper dey follow na di same one week. Dem treat dis one inside Economy and the Market. How Sogbesan notice say plenty Yoruba markets still dey arrange dia days on four-day week while people dey use Anglo-Saxon names count di days na di sharpest single example of wetin happen to Yoruba time .
Òṣù na di month and òdún na di year. For di reconstruction wey Sogbesan give from di Aboòrìṣà of Ọ̀yọ́ town, di year get four-day weeks, seven weeks for twenty-eight day month, thirteen months for one year, wey give ninety-one weeks and three hundred and sixty-four days .
Di month start from moon cycle, wey be wetin twenty-eight day month and thirteen months mean, and òṣù na also di word for moon. Thirteen lunar months of twenty-eight days na ideal calculation instead of wetin match astronomy exactly, since synodic month dey around 29.5 days, so any lunar calendar wey dey work must need observation and adjustment instead of ordinary maths.
As a matter of fact, wetin Sogbesan record na say unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Yoruba calendar no dey start on fixed day or month, and traditional festival dem no get fixed date and dem dey different from town to town . Na this be the most important structural fact about Yoruba time and people dey always miss am for modern presentation dem. The year dey start with wetin eye see, no be with date: the Aboòrìṣà account na say the new year dey start when the rain of the season start to fall, wey dey make new leaf grow for body of trees . The proverb wey follow am wey Sogbesan record na:
Oníra ni kẹ́ bọ lọ Ìràwé ni dé bọ le
Oníra / na-im / dey-take / the-offering / go-out, Ìràwé / na-im / dey-bring / the-offering / come-in.
Onira dey carry the offering go outside Irawe dey bring the offering come inside
Translator: Sogbesan, wey give am as Yoruba proverb without any other attribution; the word-for-word gloss na my own and the tone mark dem na reconstruction, so make una treat am with medium confidence.
Ìràwé na the first month of the year for Sogbesan table and Oníra na the last festival month wey dem mention by name, so the proverb na reminder for the boundary of the year: the offering dem dey go out for one end of the cycle and dem dey come back inside for the other end. Ìràwé na still ordinary Yoruba word for dry leaf or leaf wey don fall down, and na why the name join with the month when season dey change, when old leaf dey comot and new one dey come. English no fit carry the two meaning of the month name and the leaf together at the same time.
The thirteen months, with how dem match with Gregorian calendar and the festival dem wey follow am wey Sogbesan record from Ọ̀yọ́ town :
| # | Òṣù | Gregorian | Festival dem wey dem record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Òṣù Ìràwé (New Year) | April/May | Òòṣà Èfú |
| 2 | Òṣù Egúngún | May/June | Ìyámàpó |
| 3 | Òṣù Àlànù | June/July | Egúngún |
| 4 | Òṣù Yemọja | July/August | Ṣàngó |
| 5 | Òṣù Òòṣà Oko | Aug/Sept | Ṣàngó, Yemọja, Ọ̀ṣun |
| 6 | Òṣù Orún | Sept/Oct | Èṣù, Òòṣà Oko |
| 7 | Òṣù Gbáyanrin | Oct/Nov | Orún |
| 8 | Òṣù Ògún | Nov/Dec | Ògún |
| 9 | Òṣù Irá | Dec/Jan | Ọya |
| 10 | Òṣù Beere | Jan/Feb | Obàlúayé, Ṣàngó |
| 11 | Òṣù Àlénù | Feb/Mar | (dem record say e no good for farm work) |
| 12 | Òṣù Aláràn Ọ̀yígí | Mar/April | |
| 13 | Òṣù Molè | April | Molè |
Two warning dem. This table na wetin one town dey do, wey dem record from traditional worshippers of today for Ọ̀yọ́ and publish for 2022, and make person no take am as the general Yoruba calendar. And that claim wey dey spread well-well for internet say the Yoruba year dey run from 3 June go reach 2 June, with the era count wey dem know as Kọ́jọ́dá , no agree with this academic reconstruction, wey put the new year for time of rain for April or May and state clearly say the year no dey start on fixed date. The Kọ́jọ́dá era numbering, wey dey give year count into tens of thousands, dey circulate almost entirely among traditional practitioners and diaspora people without academic backing, and this work no support am. Where people dey observe fixed 3 June new year today, na modern standardisation of calendar wey depend on wetin eye see, wey be valid practice for today but no be evidence about how things be before colonial rule.
The seasons na dem be the main way to divide time for farming, wey dem divide further by the type of rain, and Sogbesan table record names for dem: Ìràwé, Ògìnnìntìn (cold rain), Èwo (small rain), Àrámoká (strong rain), Òyé (the cold wind wey get noise, harmattan), Èèrùn (dry season), Bàárú (dry season with small night rain), Ìjì (strong wind) and Ejidún (the first daily rain) . Farmer wey dey follow nine different rain and wind condition dey follow wetin the weather actually be with eye, no be date, and na the same principle wey the new year wey dey shift dey follow.
Ọjọ́ Olóyìn, the last and first day of the month, dey recorded as important day because na that time farmers and hunters dey return come town meet their family, and communities dey gather for palace . That one na good example of how the calendar take arrange social life for ground: boundary for every month wey dey pull people wey scatter back into the town and into the front of ọba.
Ọ̀sẹ̀ Ifá, the four-day observance of Ifá by im priest dem, still dey continue, and na im be the four-day week practice wey survive pass as religious cycle wey people dey do widely.
Annual festivals na dem be the calendar of the town. Each òrìṣà get im own festival, the ọba's festivals dey mark the year, and the order of festivals throughout the year na wetin town ritual calendar be. Because the festival dem no get fixed date and dem dey different from town to town , na locally dem dey set the whole year round, mostly by the priest dem as dem consult divination and look how the season dey.
The Gregorian calendar enter with trade, missionary schooling and colonial administration make am strong well-well, and now na im dominate pass everything. Sogbesan account of how e happen dey direct: the seven-day week enter with Christianity, the missionaries use education push their ideology of time, and the four-day week come gradually dey pushed to the Aboòrìṣà while the seven-day week take over political, socio-cultural, and economic life .
Wetin happen next na the interesting part. Dem indigenise the seven-day week. Dem give Yoruba names to the Anglo-Saxon days :
| English | Yoruba |
|---|---|
| Monday | Ajé |
| Tuesday | Ìṣẹ́gun |
| Wednesday | Ọjọ́rú |
| Thursday | Ọjọ́bọ̀ |
| Friday | Ẹtì |
| Saturday | Àbámẹ́ta |
| Sunday | Àìkú |
Di names no be translations. Ajé na wealth abi di deity of wealth and prosperity, Ìṣẹ́gun na victory, Àìkú na deathlessness. So di days of Christian week come get Yoruba names wey carry Yoruba religious meaning, and di greeting for Monday, wey dey wish person week of ajé, still dey mean wetin e mean. Sogbesan point am out clearly say di Anglo-Saxon day names sef, na Germanic deities dem name dem after, so di choice to drop Yoruba day names because say dem dey associated with òrìṣà dey stand on difference wey no fit hold water if person check am well .
Di four-day week never disappear. E still dey alive for market cycle, for Ọ̀sẹ̀ Ifá and for òrìṣà observance, and traditional worshippers dey maintain am on purpose. Sogbesan note say di traditional calendar still dey serve as reference for hunters, traders, farmers, traditional worshippers and communities in dia socio-cultural activities . Wetin don loss na di naming and di calculation of time, no be say di rhythm loss complete.
For reader wey grow up as Christian, wetin dis one mean in practice be say dem don dey use Yoruba calendar all along without knowing. Di Yoruba names for di days of the week no be local translation of English ones; dem be indigenous religious vocabulary wey dem map put on top imported cycle, and di four-day cycle wey di imported one push comot still dey run underneath for every market for Yorubaland.
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