Posted on 08/12/2014 2:30:01 AM PDT by markomalley
Msgr Pope ping
Mexicans would fit right in. (I say this not as a criticism, but simply observing a distinction.)
Haha, that was exactly my thought when I saw the article title.
We were introduced to the similar concept of “Fiji-time” a couple of years ago. The Fijians take their time at everything because, as they say, they are the first to see the sun rise (because of Fiji’s position near the international date line), and so they have to wait around for the rest of the world to catch up.
Despite this attitude, when we scheduled private visits to villages, the villagers picked us up promptly at 8 am.
Perhaps in addition to having weather rocks, people had time rocks as well.
Motivation!
The day for the ancient Jews began at sundown. …Not just ancient Jews; many modern Jews also.
So when Methusala lived a 1,000 years......he was only 52?
Thank you for posting this. It is fascinating. And very true, as anyone who has spent time in the ME can attest to.
Ping!
It's also interesting to note that time zones are a construct of the modern world because they weren't needed until the last 120 years or so. All time was "local time" before then. Since most people never traveled more than a few miles from where they lived, they were perfectly content to measure time based on the sun or the local church bells.
This history of time is interesting in this country, too. Before railroads, time could be different from town to town, even nearby towns, and no one much cared.
But once the railroads got started, and time schedules became important, uniform time-keeping caught on.
We consistently question how our ancestors managed without our modern inventions. They actually began the inventing.
First of all, they didn’t need ‘hourly’ increments of their daily lives. They rose with the sun, and slept when it set. Hunters and gatherers understood the seasons for weather, food and shelter.
Curses on the guy who began 9 to 5 !!!!!!
“The Jewish people generally speaking waited until the error of the lunar calendar amounted to about a whole month and then inserted an extra month called Veadar, between the months of a Adar and Nisan. A year with this extra month amounted to almost 400 days instead of the usual 354 days of the Jewish lunar calendars.”
Veadar means “and Adar” which can also be called Adar Sheni or “Second Adar” plus Adar Rishon or “First Adar” for the normal 12th Adar on the calendar. When there are two Adars they can also be called Adar Aleph (Adar 1) and Adar Bet (Adar 2).
Thank you for posting this Msgr Pope column. I consider his series on “life in the time of Jesus” to be quite informative.
They forgot to mention this passage from the Torah.
Exodus 11:4
“And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt”
And later...
Exodus 12:29
“At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.”
Exactly.
On long nights, in some cultures, they would wake up in the middle of the night and eat a small meal, visit outside, or use that period for some sort of, ahem, recreational activity. ;-)
They would then have a period of “second sleep. “
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