Without getting into too many terse details, the only reason the New Year is celebrated at its present time is due to Indo-European cultural association with the Winter Solstice and Lunar Cycles, where as traditional African civilizations such as Absynnia, Kush, Nubia, Egypt, Kuba (Congo/Central Africa), Yoruba, and other Africans celebrated their New Year around the summer solstice occurring about the end of June.

As you can see, the African was diametrically opposite to the Indo-European/Semite with respect to their calendar. Some Semites still hold onto their African practices of starting the day when the sun sets. The origin of this is in my avatar, called the Tuat representing the "12 Hours of Night" and is inscribed on the pyramid attributed to Khufu at Giza. Without tearing down anyone's religion, it should be known that the Egyptian word Tuat transliterates to "Dawood" or "David" in Hebrew; hence not surprisingly we have the "Star of David [Tuat]". If you count, there are 12 pieces inside the outer-most circle that represent each hour that Ra (in the form of the Sun) was "under the Earth" between sunset (evening) and sunrise (morning).


I think it can be argued that the time of our festivals/celebrations surrounding holidays and so forth certainly effects our consciousness. Should we count the days starting after sunset and our years beginning at the end of June?

Good qusetion and one for policy makers of African countries to consider although I doubt its a consideration. To have your own arbitary start of the year means you have pride and confidence in your culture and knowledge of your forebears.

Tell me where in Africa do you see that mentality when it comes to the sciences or language. You think any church going/ mosque visiting African is going to go for that 'heathenism'. I dont know why you torture yourself.

Ive joined a new team of advisors and it consists of a few Asians, 1 Jew boy and a couple of whites. Yesterday the conversation somehow revertd to when the others celebrated xmas and New Year.

I felt totally irritated that ive been raised to share the same date as the whites, when the others upheld their own culture's beliefs.

@ So Shemsi, i would love our own dates, celebrations and beliefs. Cant see the change ever occurring however, not within my lifetime.

I for one would favor a news year’s celebration in the middle of summer coinciding with the heliacal rising of the Dog Star Sirius. The revivial of such an observance would have to follow a long period of Education about Egyptian/Ethiopian/Dogon, etc., astronomy, possibly an explanation of the significance of the annual flooding of the Nile and its relationship to the star, and some kind of exposition generating cultural motivation for reviving the holiday. I think this would be difficult sine the Nile has been damned up and neither Africans nor Egyptian Arabs anticipate the annual flooding. I do not know what significance the rising of the star has for Ethiopians or other African ethnic groups today. And, I hope I am not assuming too much by linking your new year’s vision with the rising of this star. My assumption is that you probably know more about it than I.

Still, perhaps an even better way to revive the holiday is to study and the research of Dr. Beaval (I cannot recall his first name). He is more interested in the 1460-year cycle of the heliacal rising of the Dog Star Sirius. According to him, the Egyptians embarked upon major building and/or military campaigns every 730 and 1460 years and that these campaigns coincided with the halfway point or the reset point (i.e., every 1460 years) for the movement of the Sirius star (i.e., its location at certain times of the year changes from year to year because the earth wobbles like a spinning top losing momentum, but resets every 1460 years). If anyone believes in the movement of the stars, sun and moon and their affect on barometric pressure and consequently on human behavior, you must also ask the question: “Were the Egyptians more active at the 730 or 1460 years cycles by conscious intention or did the movement of the stars influence African biological rhythms causing them to be more aggressive at the aforementioned cycles?” Irrespective of the answer, it would be good to teach Africans about the coming of the next cycle. It is only a few hundred years away. Reviving the 1460-year cycle would connect us to thousands of years of African history and should not infringe upon any religion. It might also, dare I say it, give us a clue as to when we are most potent. Then we may exclaim, "the stars have looked favorably upon us." Am I making any sense?

Yes, I know . . . crazy thoughts . . .

Yep I'm feeling this thread. I would go for a 3pm - 3am 'day' allowing a 3am - 9am break for essential melatonin top up with a 9am - 3pm space for creations/creativity time. A friend of mine who I studied with would get going at around 11pm and work through till about 6am. This worked well between us where I would work on a joint assignment with her during the evening hours and she would take it over and work through to morning. there is definitely something magical that happens for us after hours and can often be some of the most productive and creative time of the 'day'.

^ The Ausar Auset observe that pattern I'm sure... something like that anyway.

We should be using the ethiopian calander;

Ethiopian calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rather than the gergorian;

Gregorian calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The time we are used to observing in general is distinctly ''off'' but it was for a reason, twelve o' clock noon should mark the height of the suns passage but it dosen't ''we'' now mark time atomically as the passage of the sun varies according to a persons location. The days of the week are marked according to the passage of various planets;

Monday = Moon
Tuesday = Mars
Wednesday = Mercury
Thursday = Jupiter
Friday = Venus
Saturday = Saturn
Sunday = Sun

Each day begins as the sun rises along with the various planet, then throughout the day each planet has its ''hour'' (not always 60mins) as it rises on the horizon going through the day until the next begins with its associated planet. These are called planetary hours, the day ends when the sun rises for the next. As Neferkare mentioned the ancients would utilize this, as each planet rises it has an effect on life on earth. Time should run according to this format or one it is derived from.

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[quote=Black Lion;1457371]^

We should be using the ethiopian calander;

Ethiopian calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rather than the gergorian;

Gregorian calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes I agree with BL, the Ethiopeans already start their New Year on 11th September; and they are 7 yrs behind the Weatern Calender, hence this is the Millenium Year 2000. Ethiopia remains one only African Country which was not 'colonialised'; so why not accept what we already have?
N.B..

Th Nuwaubian Nu Year is June 24-26 according to their calander

[quote=N.B.;1463674]
The Ge'ez Calendar used by Ethiopians today has been tainted by centuries of Christiandom. It has been greatly influenced by the Roman/Byzantines Christians who were occupiers of Northeast Africa 2,000 years ago. Albeit, the calendar has its roots in the much older Egypto-Kus.hitic-Nubian calendar, it still isn't at the heart of African civilization. The reason they have a 7-8 years difference from the Western Calendar is because they made their own calculations for when Jesus was born themselves. This means it is inherently based on an Indo-European god, and not the divinity in Africa.

Besides that, we must remember that a child cannot name its mother. Likewise, the Christian-based calendar in use today in Ethiopia cannot be used in its present form. It would probably be suitable with some slight modifications though.