Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/287

 It is evident that the appellations of the remaining 12 keunòngs taken from the exact dates on which they fall in the lunar calendar, will differ little from year to year, though they will not be wholly identical. Thus the keunòng which in 1892 would be described as 26, would properly be called 27 in 1893 and so on. As the keunòngs are not by any means always capable of actual observation on account of the clouded state of the sky, the need is felt of a more fixed and regular arrangement, and one which can be easily remembered. For example, where actual observation is impossible there must be some means of knowing that it is now keunòng 21, because it was keunòng 23 in the preceding month.

The Achehnese therefore assume—with full knowledge of the inaccuracy they are committing—that the figure representing the lunar date of each keunòng is less by exactly two than that of its predecessor. They invariably begin their series of keunòngs with 23, so that all keunòngs, according to their mode of expression fall on uneven dates. Of this they sometimes give a peculiar explanation. They assume that Christian and other non-Mohammedan peoples also reckon by keunòngs, and that their keunòngs always fall on odd dates. Some choice must be made, and as neither of the two conduces to accuracy, the Achehnese have chosen the uneven, both because the sacred tradition recommends all true Moslims to distinguish themselves as far as possible in all matters from the unbelievers, and also because Allah is regarded as having a special preference for odd numbers.

The inaccuracy of this keunòng series (23, 21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1) hardly at all impairs the true purpose of the reckoning by keunòngs, i. e. the knowledge of the seasons. It even often happens that the keunòng is actually observed on a date which is theoretically incorrect, owing to the fact that the whole constellation is made the basis of the observation, instead of Antares or some other special star within it. And when the moon does not enter the Scorpion at all on the accepted date, but passes some little distance from it, this is ascribed to the errors consequent on the adoption of a series which diminishes in too uniform a manner. They are thus content with the average agreement between what they actually observe in the heavens and their