Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/131

 day and a night; he has no idea of dividing them into hours. Their almanac is the same as the Chinese, and is printed at Peking in Mongol characters. The months are all lunar, some containing twenty-nine, others thirty days. Hence there is a week over every year to complete the revolution of the earth in its solar orbit. Every fourth year the extra weeks make a month, which is added to the winter, summer, or one of the other seasons, according to the calculations of the Peking astronomers. This month has no special name, but is called after one of the others, so that in Leap-year there are two Januaries or two Julys, &c. The new year commences on the first day of the white month, Tsagan Sar, corresponding with the middle of February; which marks the beginning of spring, and is kept as a great holiday in all Buddhist countries. The 1st, 8th, and 15th days of every month are also festivals, and are also called Tserting.

Their cycle is twelve years, each year having the name of some animal, thus:—

Five of these cycles make a larger one, answering to