251
is in the above list reckoned as = 0, the Mohammedan month has no day that can be designated by a cypher, the day of its new moon being indicated by the figure 1. If we recollect this we may without much chance of error employ the following rule. To find approximately the Mohammedan dates on which keunòngs fall, add 1 to the numbers given above as representing the intervals between the new moon and the keunòng.
These are the data used by the Achehnese in describing the keunòngs; they further indicate the date of each keunòng by appending it to the name of the Mohammedan month in which it occurs. Suppose we say, for instance, "It is now the month of Sapha", this merely means that it is the second month of the religious (lunar) year, and that for the present there are no feasts to be looked forward to except the Rabu Abéh. But if we add the words "keunòng 11", it is then pretty generally understood that in this year the moon and Scorpion coincide on or about the 11th of Sapha. Even he who does not grasp this, still comprehends that the time for sowing padi is at hand, just as at home both townsman and peasant knows that the dog-days bring hot weather, although they may be unable to determine the actual date of that period of the year.
At the same time the Achehnese allow themselves a certain latitude in computing the keunòngs, which facilitates their use. According to the list we have given, the Achehnese keunòngs in our year 1892 would in theory fall successively on the following dates in their (the Mohammedan) months:
26, 24, 22, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 4, 2.
For 1893 the sequence would be:
27, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 7, 5, 3.
From each of these series the last terms (29 and 30 respectively) are omitted, since these keunòngs fall within the same lunar months as their predecessors and are at the same time entirely invisible, as the moon does not appear at the end of the month. Thus the Achehnese omit this 13th keunòng in their computation, going on the theory that there is but one keunòng in each month, but that once in the year two keunòngs are separated by an interval double as long as that which ordinary separates these conjunctions. This specially long interval is called keunòng tanggiléʾ, an expression the origin of which is no longer known. Some connect it with tanggiléng—the armadillo, asserting that this animal can only be caught during the period in question.
