Perhaps it was not till the arrival of the British to these rolling hills that the Khasi-Pnar used clocks or a watch to keep time. Before that our people kept time by using their senses to look at, listen to and even smell at the changes that occur in and around nature. A lady from Jarain who accompanies us on a trek to Umngot river to see the migratory birds which visit the area, heard the buzzing of an insect while climbing and said that it was time to go back if we want to reach the village before dark. This is one example of how natural phenomenon help people keep time but the most important phenomenon which influence their time keeping and life is the cycle of the moon’s rotation around the earth.
It is no surprise then that all our ancestors’ activities from keeping time to deciding on their daily chores, from planning their agricultural activities to deciding on the date of their festivals are based on the lunar calendar. They may not be educated but they read the natural phenomenon and those days when the influence of artificial lights and sounds was almost absent, the chirping of the birds, the changes in plant world and the movement of the celestial bodies particularly the moon played a very important role in the life of the community.
Recently, when the Christians raised a hue and cry about the decision of the Central government to celebrate the Digital India day which is also the culmination of the Digi Dhan Mela on April 14 which is the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the NDA Government paid heed to the complaint and directed some north eastern states to choose their own dates to celebrate the day while the rest of the country would stick to April 14. The point is that the Government knows that because the date for celebration of Easter is based on the lunar calendar and that accordingt to the calculation used next year April 14 would certainly not coincide with Good Friday and then the entire country would celebrate the Digital India day on the same day.
The last time I wrote mentioning that in the Khasi-Pnar calendar a week has eight days, a friend from another country asked me how we got the extra day. Well I did not have the answer to the question then, but I simply told him that since according to the traditional calendar there is no year ending but it continues with the changes of the four seasons, traditional calendar therefore overlaps with the Julian calendar, so the problem of having eight days in fifty two weeks and 365 days is not there, because we are only concerned with weeks and the four seasons. Maybe the Pnar in particular does not have any concept of year-end because they do not use dates, but just days and months which are according to the rotation of the moon around the earth. It is much simpler and not as complex as the calendar we use.
Perhaps the traditional calendar uses only days because dates are the influence of the modern calendar and the days in a week are named after the markets where they occur throughout the week. We have for example Iewduh and Iewpamtiah in Khasi Hills and Iawmusiang and Pynsin in Jaintia hills which are named after the market where the bazaar happens on that particular day.
Days and not dates are important that even to this day, hence in some part of Jaintia hills district we still have people named after the day they were born, like for example my late grandmother’s name is Hat Lyngdoh Mohrmen, because she was born on a day call ‘Hat’ in a traditional calendar in Jaintia hills. We also have people named Siang because he or she was born on Musiang, then Kat because he or she was born on Pyngkat, Law because the person was born on Khyllaw, Chai, on Muchai, Long, on Mulong and Siñ for a person who was born on Pynsiñ. But I think more research is needed to know why people seldom give the name of Thymblein to any person who was born on this particular day of the week.
A week ends on a market day in that particular area. For example for the people who live around Jowai, it is Musiang and market day is not only pay day but because the market happens only once a week, it is also a day when people buy stuff they need for the whole week. And before the advent of Christianity the day after the market day was the day people got their weekly rest. Again taking the example of Jowai it is Muchai but now it is being replaced by Sunday. Market day is also a day for recreation like in Jowai an archery competition between the communities always happens on market day.
The concept of calculating months based on the sighting of the celestial moon (bnai bneiñ) is still being followed in the rural areas especially with regards to the agricultural activities like taking the position of the moon into consideration before deciding on planting of trees or sowing of seeds. But the influence of western calendar also made them adapt to the changes so when they calculate months now they also take the western calendar into consideration. I remember when my sister was a child and friends and relative visited us and when our guests asked about my sister’s age, my grandmother or my mum would answer saying; ‘According to the celestial moon, she is so many months old; but according to the world moon or common calendar (bnai pyrthai) she is so many month old.
At that point of time I did not understand what this meant. Later I understood that this meant that our grandmothers keep two calendars at a time and the baby’s celestial age is always one month ahead of the Julian calendar. It is only very recently that I came to know that the Khasi-Pnar follow a thirteen month calendar because according to the community’s calculation a month has twenty eight days.
The twenty eight day- month concept is based on the fact that the people call full moon ‘u Nai Khatsaw Synïa’, which means that it takes fourteen days from when the moon rises till the sighting of the full moon and it will take another fourteen days for the moon to set. Months always have twenty eight days in the Khasi Pnar calendar and this is how they have 13 months in one cycle of season.
It is also because all the community’s activities are influenced by the agrarian culture that there is no concept of year ending in Khasi-Pnar calendar, but there is only change of seasons. Even the months are named taken into consideration the seasonal changes that occur. Kyllalyngkot because the days are still shorter than nights.; we call March Lber because that is when the plants and particularly grass starts to bring out new shoots. During the peak of Monsoom because we have too much rain and everything is wet and damp hence we call July u Naitung.
In the Pnar’s calendar the last two months give us the idea that if at all there is a concept of year- ending among the Pnar, then the rice harvesting season would be that year-edning which are the two months corresponding to November and December and which are called Khonchonglad and Kmaichonglad. Again because of the agrarian influence all agricultural activities come to a grinding halt during winter. The coming of spring is always welcomed with pomp and gaiety as the beginning of the farming season again. When the Pnars named the two months Khonchonglad and Kmaichonglad, they had their own meaning because ‘Khon’ not only means son or daughter but it also means small or minor and ‘chonglad’ can be translated as leisure time. Because the two months also mark the onset of winter where farmers became unproductive, hence November is little leisurely and December is major leisure time.
The Khasi-Pnar’s own and way of keeping time and calendar is unique. There is more to it than a mere calendar. Sadly the tradition is gradually fading away, one hopes that at least more work is done on this subject before it is too late.