The Coligny Calendar: the Implications for Gaulish and Irish Festival Dates

Garrett Olmsted

Akten des dreizehnten Internationalen Keltologiekongresses = Proceedings of the Thirteenth International

Congress of Celtic Studie: 23. bis 27. Juli 2007 in Bonn:
(vol. 2: 2009), pp. 193–204.

The standard explanation for the Quarter Festivals of the Insular Celtic year, which fall around 55
days earlier than the solar solstices and equinoxes, is that they represent a more practical agricultural
division of the year. In this explanation spring is seen more sensibly to begin on February 1, the first day of
calving season. Summer, likewise, more sensibly begins on May 1 when the bulls are put into the cow herd,
around the time of the appearance of the constellation Taurus. What I shall demonstrate is that the most
likely origin of the Insular Celtic quarter-day festivals lies not in some theorized agricultural year but in a
simple calendar shift whereby progressively over a long period of time the lunar festivals got out of whack
with solar time.
Such a calendar shift is likely to have happened to the Insular Celts, as just such a shift with
certainty happened to the Celts in the region around Lugudunum. We know this thanks to the preservation
of the very-detailed Coligny calendar, found not far from Lyon. Classical commentary suggests that Britain
and Gaul originally utilized the same 30-year calendar cycle, assumed to be that of the cycle of Saturn
(Saturn's sidereal year equals 29.457 years). The 5-day week of the Coligny calendar is also described in
early Irish law (the cóicde). Well-known is the similarity of the Gaulish month-name Samionios to Irish
Samain, both occurring at what in each case was assumed to be the beginning of winter. If the early Irish
Celts did utilize the same calendar as the pre-first-century-BC Gauls, the same calendar shift would have
occurred in their time reckoning as well.
A similar calendar shift happened to the Romans and later to the medieval Christian world. By the
use of a 366-day leap year every four years with a basic 365-day year, Caesar reformed an earlier Roman
calendar which had grown to be 80 days out of whack with the solar year. But even Caesar=s calendar had
problems. By making the average year 365.2500 days long, whereas the actual solar year is 365.2422 days
long, the Julian calendar gets progressively later than the solar year by 1 day every 134 years, so that by the
time of the Gregorian reforms in 1582, the Julian calendar was fully 12 days in error with solar time and 4
days in error with the computed lunar time.
So too, it is clear that the Gauls in the region around Lugudunum reformed their calendar around
100 BC from a 30-year cycle to a more accurate 25-year cycle, as is apparent from a careful study of the
Coligny calendar. The system and terminology of the 30-year calendar is still embedded within the 25-year
Coligny calendar. By 100 BC the 30-year Gaulish lunar calendar had become 5 days out of whack with the
moon. The months then began on the sixth day of the moon, not on the new moon as the Coligny calendar
terminology and structure indicate. We know of these details as well as of the wider use of a 30-year
calendar throughout Gaul, because Plinius records an observation of Poseidonius that this was the case
around 120-100 BC. Plinius states that the Gaulish 30-year calendar cycle as well as the months and years in
general began on the same sixth day of the moon. Since the 30-year calendar shifts from lunar time by 1 day
every 199 years, this lunar shift of 5 days implies the Gaulish calendar had been in operation for 1000 years
by 100 BC. This lunar shift of 5 days, exactly one Gaulish week, would have been combined with a shift of
well over a month between the solstices and equinoxes and the lunar festivals celebrating them. Such errors
would have given amble reason for adopting a new and more accurate calendar, but one shifting into a new
lunar week at the beginning of every 25-year cycle.
On the Gaulish Coligny calendar the festival and month name Samonios clearly refers to midwinter,
as the analysis outlined here will show. It is also clear that Samonios is cognate with Irish Samain. Sanas
Cormaic refers to Samain as the first day of winter which agrees with the Coligny calendar where the
solstice of the sun at its yearly low point occurs in Samonios. The agreement of these month names in itself
suggests that the Irish calendar had much in common with that originally used in Gaul. Yet in Ireland
strangely Samain, the first day of winter occurs on November 1, some 55 days earlier than the time of
Christmas or midwinter on the early Christian Julian calendar. Sanas Cormaic also refers to Irish Imbolc
(February 1) as the first day of spring, Beltaine (May 1) as the first day of summer, and Lugnasad (August
1) as the first day of fall.
 An analysis of the Gaulish Coligny calendar possibly explains why the Irish quarter dates are
displaced as a whole 55 days earlier than the actual solar solstices and equinoxes the quarter dates celebrate.
On the Coligny calendar counting schemes track the dates of these solar festivals within the lunar months.
Coligny counting schemes track a displacement of calendar time as occurring one day earlier than actual
solar time during each 25-year or 30-year calendar cycle. On the Coligny calendar, the N-counting scheme
still found alongside the more sophisticated TII counting scheme (see plate 1) makes it clear that a 30-year
calendar preceded the later 25-year calendar cycle. If a 30-year calendar cycle similar to that described by
Plinius had been utilized in Ireland prior to the adoption of the Julian calendar, such a 1-day fallback every
23.70 years in the oscillating lunar celebrations of the solar events would explain the displacement of the
Irish festivals. For such an explanation to be valid the Celtic calendar would have to have been utilized for
some 1300 years without a correction prior to the adoption of the Julian calendar around 450 AD in Ireland,
just as the Julian calendar itself would be in operation for some 1600 years before a correction would be
made in 1582 AD. Around 450 AD the Irish Quarter Festivals, now some 55 days out of synchronization
with the solar year were simply adopted directly into the Julian calendar without any attempt to realign them
with solar time, for after all they dealt with festivals which were fully pagan in their origins. Certainly the
pagan celebrations of midwinter and spring otherwise would have competed with the important and similar
Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter.
The early Irish vernal quarter festival Imbolc and the later Hebridean la feill Bride show similarities
to the spring festivals of Diónysos and of Cybele and Attis in Greece and Rome (see plate 2). Aspects of the
early Irish autumnal quarter festival Lugnasad also show striking similarities to the Zoroastrian festival
Mithrakána. Since the Irish and Hebridean festivals occur on August 1 and February 1, whereas the Iranian,
Greek, and Roman festivals correspond closely to the solar equinoxes, in the Julian calendar some 55 days
later, a common origin can be envisioned only in the light of the above Celtic calendar shift displacing the
original solar festivals within the lunar calendar.
The Irish first-day-of-fall festival Lugnasad was named after the god Lug Lamfota ALong-armed@
(Macalister 1941: IV, 1215-1219), as the similar Iranian first-day-of-fall festival Mithrakána was named
after the god Mithr, who was similarly seen as having long arms. In medieval Irish manuscripts Lug is
patron of the oenach, a ritual, legal, and festive gathering, held at Tailtiu and Carman on Lugnasad "Lug's
Feast". According to Sanas Cormaic (Meyer 1912: 66), Lugnasad was considered to be the first day of fall
(im thaite foghmair). Interesting, this autumnal festival was held on August 1 in early Christian Ireland, not
close to the autumnal equinox as with Mithrakána. The LL-Dindsenchas informs us that Oenach Carmain
was not just a gathering for games, horse-racing, music, and trading goods and cattle, but to conduct legal
affairs as well (Gwynn 1903-35: II, 18-9). During the oenach, the king could proclaim cairde "friendship",
a compact settling disputes with a neighboring tribe and proclaiming peaceful coexistence with them
(Binchy 1941: 102).
In early medieval Ireland Oenach Carmain was a first fruits' festival, but it may have begun as a
harvest-home festival with little change in its significance or ritual. It was a time to give thanks for the
beginning of harvest (Stokes 1894-5: 314). As a patron of the first fruits' festivals, Lug was also, like
Mithr, the protector of the vegetation, particularly the grain. In the Dindsenchas story of Oenach Carmain,
Lug leads the Túatha dé Danann against Carman and her sons, who had come to Ireland "blighting the corn"
(Stokes 1894-5: 314). As suggested by his byname Grianainech "Sun-face", Lug was associated with the
day and the summer sun.
In the early Iranian Mihr Yast, Mithr is "the guarantor of orderly international relations, the god of
international treaty" (Gershevitch 1959: 27), "whose long arms reach out to catch the violators of the
contract" (1959: 124-5). He is the judge who makes "the abode gain prominence" (1959: 110-11). Even in
later Zoroastrian religion, because of his truthfulness, Mithr (Mihr) is the judge of the soul at death. His
festival Mithrakána (Mihragan) "feast of Mithr" is in fact in honor of "Mithr Judge of Iran" (Hinnells
1973: 78). In the Mihr Yast, Mithr is a "god who bestows progeny, raises vegetation, and is, moreover,
identified with the first light of the morning" (Gershevitch 1959: 32-3). His role as a god of the day is
exemplified by his epithet Hvraoxšna- "Endowed with his own Light" (1959: 31; 144-5, '34, 142), just as
Lug is Grianainech "Sun-face". Mithr is not only associated with the daylight sun, but also with the sun in
summer and autumn. His festival Mithrakána, foreshadowing the end of the world, takes place on the first
day of solar autumn (September 21).
At their namesake festivals at what was considered to be the beginning of autumn, both Irish Lug
and Iranian Mithr played roles as guardian gods of the harvest as well as of the summer and fall half of the
year, when the sun is daily lowering in the sky. Both festivals showed the practice of trying legal cases at
these autumnal gatherings for games, markets, and religious ceremonies. Here too at these festivals, as great
judges, Mithr and Lug apparently each presided over contracts and treaties.
Springtime rites were associated in Rome with the Earth Mother Cybele and her young companion
Attis and in Greece with Aphrodít and her young companion Adnis. Correspondingly, in Ireland
manuscript sources suggest that rites centered around Boand Mórrígan and her young companion Fraech
Conlae, as earlier rites in Gaul were centered around Bormobovindona and her young companion Bormo
Vroicos (Olmsted 1994: 182-183, 384-398). The story, which is preserved in Táin bó Fraích, explains the
origin of the three musicians born of the Dagda's harper. The harper creates for Boand, their mother, "the
music of crying, the music of laughing, and the music of sleeping". Through the influence of the music, she
cries at the birth of the first son, laughs at that of the second, and sleeps at that of the third. "For there, for
cattle and for women who shall bring forth under Ailill and Medb, are Music of Sleeping, Music of Smiling,
and Music of Weeping" (Meid 1967: 4-5, ll. 100-12; Carney 1955: 4-5). When Fraech returns to Cruachu
after being wounded by the water beast, his horn blowers, the offspring of Boand, play so sadly that 30 men
die from weeping. He is then carried off by women into the underworld at Síd Crúachan and the next day
returns completely healed (Meid 1967: ll. 240-2). As we shall see, all these motifs bear a relationship to
ritual aspects of the Roman springtime festival to Cybele and Attis, in particular, the Tristia "Day of
Sadness", the Hilaria "Day of Joy and Laughter", and the Requietio "Day of Rest".
With the adoption of Christianity, this goddess Mórrígan Boand, under the byname Brigit, was
assimilated to Saint Brigit (Olmsted 1994: 163-165). Aspects of her ritual were recorded by Carmichael
during the late nineteenth century. In the Hebrides "Bride (Saint Brigit) was said to preside over fire, over
art, over all beauty" (Carmichael 1928: I, 165). Thus, under church traditions associated with Saint Brigit,
wider aspects of the goddess were preserved. But wider aspects of the Boand and Fraech theme would
certainly have been in collision with the similar themes of Christian Easter and were best left occurring on
February 1, not oscillating with lunar time about the vernal equinox.
In Barra and South Uist, Saint Bride (Brigit) is still known as the Banochudeachaidh Moire "the
Aid-woman of Mary" and the Muime Chriosda "the Foster-mother of Christ". It was she who went "to aid
and minister to the Virgin Mother and to receive the Child (Christ) into her arms", just as she was later "the
aid-woman of the mothers of Uist". Carmichael noted further that "when things go well it indicates that
Bride is present and friendly to the family" (Charmichael 1928: I, 164-66). One cannot help but think of
Boand's musicians "for cattle and for women who shall bring forth under Ailill and Medb" (Meid 1967: 14-
15, ll. 100-112).
A calendar of Furius Dionysus Philocalus (354 AD) (CIL I: 260) gives the dates for the Cybele and
Attis festivals in Rome (see Vermaseren 1977: 113). The Tristia and Hilaria, "the Festival of Sadness and
the Festival of Gaiety", corresponding to Attis's death and resurrection respectively, occurred on the 24th
and 25th day of Martius and were followed on the 26th by a day of resting, the Requietio. Indeed the Roman
festivals and their names are suggestive of "the music of weeping (goltride), the music of laughter
(gentride), and the music of sleeping (súantride)" played by Fraech's horn blowers (Meid 1967: 4-5) or the
gol 7 egem "crying and shrieking" with which Brigh bewails her dead son (Stokes 1891: 96-97). These
themes must have a common source, with Irish myth apparently preserving the names of the music played at
the ritual and Latin sources preserving the names of the festival days.
On the 22nd day of Martius (the Arbor Intrat "the entry of the tree") the pine tree associated with
Attis was cut and swathed like a corpse to be taken to the temple of Cybele. The pine tree was to be
deposited in the temple as Attis himself (Arnobius: V, 16). The chief ceremony on the 23rd day of Martius,
the Tristia, was the blowing of trumpets (Vermaseren 1977: 115; Frazer 1922: 405-8). These trumpet
blowers can be compared only to the magic horn blowers of Fraech "Heather". These horn blowers similarly
play trumpets as the drowned or wounded Fraech is carried off by weeping women to be deposited in the
other world of the Irish Mother of Gods, Boand (Meid 1967: ll. 240-2; O'Rahilly 1976: 26-7; Gwynn 1913:
III, 362-5). This was also the day on which a taurobolium took place, the ritual baptism by bull's blood as
part of the Dies Sanguinis.
On the night of the Tristia, Martius 24, the pine tree representing Attis was at last taken from the
temple of Cybele and buried (Servius, Scholia Danielis ad Aeneidi: IX, 115). Early in the morning of the
25th day, reckoned to be the first day of spring, the god Attis supposedly rose again from the dead, and the
day was dedicated to joy and festivity on account of Attis's resurrection. The feast of joy, the Hilaria,
occurred on this day, which according to Iulianus (Julian) (Orationes: VIII, 168d) was signaled by a
trumpet. The 26th day was a day of rest (Requietio), while on the 27th day (the Lavatio) the statue of
Cybele was drawn to the Almo to be washed and renewed.
It should by now be clear that the mythology surrounding Fraech in the Táin bó Cuailnge and in
Táin bó Fraích shows much in common with the rituals of Cybele and Attis as practiced in Rome. Fraech's
very name "Heather" is reminiscent of the evergreen tree identified with Attis, which was cut and swathed
like a corpse to be taken to the temple of Cybele. To the blare of trumpets the tree was placed in the temple.
The magic horn blowers of Fraech "Heather" similarly play trumpets after he is drowned or wounded and
carried off by weeping women to be deposited in the other world of the Irish goddess Boand. Even Fraech's
drowning in the Aided Fraích episode of the Táin is significant. Many of the rites of Ádnis (similar to
those of Attis) involved flinging plants or trees, especially evergreens, into the water along with images of
the dead Ádnis (Frazer, 1922, 396). If the events of Táin bó Fraích may be taken as witness, it would
appear that like Attis, after the proper interval, Fraech would return again to the living, after being restored
in the underworld (see Olmsted 1994: 199-201, 213-216).
In the Táin Cú Chulainn's battles, including that with Fraech, end cosin cétaín íar n-imolg "on the
Wednesday after Imbolc" (O'Rahilly 1976: l. 2138). The end of the Táin relates the following about the
Donn Cuailnge. According to the Dindsenchas of Ath Luain, the bull fight takes place hi sechtmad ló erraig
"on the seventh day of spring" (Stokes 1894-5: 465).

He [the Donn bull] carried off the Finnbennach ... and plunged into the lake beside
Cruachu. He came out of it with the loin, shoulder blade, and liver of his opponent on his
horns. The hosts advanced with the intent to kill him, but Fergus did not allow it. ... As he
came, he drank a draught in Finnleithe and left there the shoulder blade of his opponent. That
land was afterwards called Finnleithe... He drank again in Troma. There the liver of his
opponent fell from his horns... Then he went on and died in Druim Tairb. (YBL-Táin: 4126-
55; O'Rahilly 1976: 237).

These events related about the Irish Donn bull show great similarity to rituals associated with the
god Diónysos, a god of all tree fruit as the Donn was developed through several animal transformations
from a swine herd who controls the tree mast of the forest. Pausanias (8, 37, 5; Jones 1918), Diodorus
Siculus (3, 62), and Nonnos (Dionysiakn: VI, 175-206) record that despite Diónysos's transformations
through several animal forms, at H_ra's instigation the Ttanes tear the Child Diónysos into shreds. From his
blood grows a pomegranate tree. From this tree Rhé brings Diónysos to life again.
Common to almost all Dionysian cults is the spring-time festival of the epiphany of Diónysos
coming from a lake or the sea (Hammond and Scullard 1970: 353; Farnell 1909: V, 124). According to
Plutarchus (Moralia: De Iside et Osiride: 35, 364F, 671E), "the Argives threw a bull into the deep and
summoned Bull-Born Diónysos (Bougenés Diónysos) to rise up from the waters with the blowing of
trumpets". These lake or sea legends would appear to have arisen from the widespread ritual practice of
throwing a bull-like incarnation of the deity into the water (Farnell 1909: V, 124). Thus Lykourgos drives
Diónysos into the sea, Perseús flings Diónysos into Lake Alkyonia, while in Thracian legend Diónysos leaps
by himself into the sea.
This spring-time ritual of throwing the bull-shaped Diónysos into the sea or lake is also reminiscent
of the Irish myths of Donn Cuailnge going into the lake at Cruachu. It should be noted that Diónysos, under
the byname Zagréous (Nonnos, Dionysiakn: VI, 175-206; Rouse 1940: 226-229; Olmsted 1994: 275-276),
and the two bulls of the Táin are all the resultant of shape-shifting creatures, who begin as men and only in
the final form of several animal transformations do they take on bull form. Their struggles and shape-
shifting transformations are also much the same as those of Apaoša- and Tištrya- in the Bundahišn (7,9).
Apaoša- and Tištrya-, as men, bulls, and horses, similarly fight in and beside a lake and their struggles
ultimately create the lakes and rivers (see Olmsted 1994: 273-275), as the Donn bull creates or at least
provides names for prominent landscape features with the bits and pieces of his opponent. Furthermore, the
drowning of Irish Fraech and the fight of the Irish bulls apparently both take place around the first day of
spring (Imbolc) (Olmsted 1978: 537-547; 1994: 215). So too, bull sacrifice and bull-blood baptism were
aspects of the rites of Cybele and Attis in Rome (equivalent to Boand and Fraech Conlae in Ireland).
It should be noted that as with the celebrations of the first day of spring, fall, summer, and winter,
not just the days corresponding to the equinoxes and solstices have been displaced earlier by 55 days in
Ireland, but the rituals corresponding to those found elsewhere in European and Indo-Iranian tradition,
associated with the solar events, have been displaced as well. Such a displacement can be explained by a
simple one-day shift every 23.7 years in the Celtic lunar calendar cycle and its associated IVOS festivals
with respect to solar time. After some 1300 years of operation, such a calendar would have displaced the
lunar festivals to some 55 days earlier than the actual solar events with which they were associated. With the
adoption of Christianity the displaced festivals then became fixed points within the newly acquired Julian
calendar. But even in this new calendar the festivals were not fixed points in the solar year. Thus after a
similar span of 1600 years from its adoption, when Pope Gregory reformed the Julian calendar, it had
progressed to being 12 days out of whack with solar time.
Besides the Coligny calendar plate, Classical commentary provides a few important details about
early Celtic calendar cycles. Diodorus Siculus (V, 32, 6; Tierney 1960), quoting Posidonius, describes a
sacrifice which took place significantly every five years among the Gauls, presumably at midsummer, since
first fruits and animals were burnt in pyres (Zwicker 1934: 19). Plutarchus (Moralia, de facie in orbe
Lunae: 26, 941 A) refers to a festival or expedition every 30 years undertaken in the Islands off Britain,
presumably the Channel Islands, but perhaps the comment on Hsíodos refers to islands to the west of
Britain and might relate to Ireland. Plutarchus's 30-year festive or expeditionary cycle near Britain may
relate to the same 30-year cycle as that referred to among the Gauls by Plinius, writing ca. 75 A.D. but
apparently quoting an earlier source (Naturalis Historia, XVI, 250).

The sixth day of the new moon ... marks for them [the druids] the beginning of the months,
the years, and the cycle at the end of thirty years, because by this time it [the moon] has
considerable strength though not yet at the half way point. (Zwicker 1934: 55).

Thus classical commentary, probably most of it emanating from Posidonius at the end of the second
century BC, describes both a 5-year phase, the time interval between the recurring midwinter or midsummer
intercalary months, and a 30-year cycle as current among the Gauls and possibly among the British or Irish
as well. One very important aspect of Plinius's statement is that both the year and the 30-year cycle begin on
the same fixed day of the moon. For the 30-year cycle to begin on the same fixed day of the moon, the 30-
year period must contain exactly 371 lunar months or 10956 days (actually 10955.848 days with 29.5306
days per lunar month), 1 day less than 30 solar years (10957.266 days) (see Table 4). Thus, as we shall see,
Plinius can only be describing the calendar which must have been the predecessor to the 25-year Coligny
calendar (Olmsted 1992: 61-64, 132-134; Olmsted 2001: 1; Duval and Pinault 1986: 415). On the Coligny
calendar the term ATENOVX Areturning night@ dividing each month into two halves counting from days I
to XIIII or XV as well as the N-counting scheme alongside the TII-counting scheme shows that the 25-year
Coligny calendar clearly developed from an earlier fully-lunar calendar. The addition of an extra day
making the month Equos have 29 rather than 28 days in year 4 of each 5 year phase causes the calendar to
shift from a 30-year cycle which contains 10956 days to a 25-year cycle which contains 9130 days.
To total 10956 days, Plinius's 30-year calendar must contain an 1801-day phase (61 lunar months)
followed by five 1831-day phases (62 lunar months) (see plate 3). In this 30-year cycle, since 5 solar years
contain 1826 days, during the first 5-year phase (1801 days) the sun falls back 25 days. However, the sun
gains back 5 days in each of the next five 5-year phases (which contain 1831 days, 5 days longer than the
1826 days of 5 solar years) (Olmsted 1992: 106). Thus the intercalary summer and winter solstices progress
at 5-day intervals every 5 years. In contrast, the 25-year Coligny calendar contains an 1802-day phase
followed by four 1832-day phases. Since a 5-year period with four 365-day years and one 366-day year
contains 1826 days, the sun would initially lag behind the 25-year calendar by 24 days (1826 -1802) after
the first 5-year phase. However, the sun would gain back this initial lag by 6 days for each of the four
subsequent 5-year phases (1832 - 1826). This calendar realigns to within one day of solar time every 25
rather than every 30 years. Containing 9130 days, this 25-year calendar then runs almost exactly 1 day less
than the 9131.06 days to be found in 25 solar years and almost exactly 5 days more than the 9124.95 days to
be found in 309 lunar months, equivalent to the 5-day week, the cóicde, of the early Irish law tracts (see
Olmsted 1992: 95).
Indeed the Coligny calendar indicates which 5-day lunar week reigns over each subsequent 25-year
cycle through a series of marks (TII, ITI, IIT), which also indicate the one-day lag of the sun with each 25
year cycle (see plate 1). TII indicates that the first lunar week begins each month during the first 25 year of
operation. ITI indicates that the second lunar week begins each month during the period between year 26
and year 50. IIT indicates that the third lunar week begins each month during the period between year 51
and year 75 from the inception of the calendar. If the first winter solstice begins on day 1 of year 1, the
solstice will begin on day 2 in year 26 and on day 3 in year 51. These marks in this sequence (TII, ITI, IIT),
except where shifted or exchanged with other days (Olmsted 1992: tab. 6c), are found in groups of three
days in a row, each group separated by the 6 days the sun, in each 5-year phase, gains back the initial fall-
back of 24 days from the first 5-year phase (Olmsted 1988: tabs. 6-7; 1992: tabs. 34, 41, 43; p. 144). In this
25-year calendar the two summer and winter intercalary solstices which occur every 5 years (separated by
30 months) progress at 6-day intervals rather than the 5-day intervals they progress in the 30-year calendar.
The pertinent observation then is that in either a 25-year or 30-year calendar, assuming four 365-day
years and one 366-day year every five years, the sun falls behind the lunar festivals of the calendar (the
lunar calendar festivals run ahead of the actual solar year) by 1 day every 23.70 years, a natural
consequence of a 365.20-day year compared to the 365.2422 days contained in an actual solar year (see
bottom of plate 3). The actual IVOS festivals will then fall 1 day earlier with respect to sun every 23.70
years, progressively getting further and further out of whack with solar time. The 25-year cycle is more
accurate to solar time than is the 30-year cycle in that the assumption of a one-day shift every 25 years is
much closer to the actual one-day shift every 23.70 years than is the assumption of a one-day shift every 30
years. Both calendars keep track of the assumed solar fallback by 1 day in each 25-year or 30-year cycle.
After 1300 years the actual lunar festivals associated with the solstices and equinoxes will take place
on average 54 days ahead of the sun (Olmsted 1992: 130-134; tab. 57). If the Julian calendar was adopted
with Christianity around 450 AD, this would give a date of around 850 BC for the beginning of a 30-year
pagan Irish calendar, if such existed. But there is nothing exact in this date because of the natural oscillation
of the lunar and solar dates caused by the intercalary months and the 11-day difference between the lunar
and solar year. This oscillation gives a wide margin of error of + 300 years. Thus from the evidence of the
55-day displacement of the Irish festivals, we might assume that somewhere in the period 550 BC to 1150
BC the original 30-year Celtic calendar cycle was adopted. However, there is another source for dating the
origin of the 30-year calendar. The agreement of these two sources then puts our dating on a more solid
footing.
The terms LOVDIN (< *leud-eno- Amount up, grow@; IEW: 684; Olmsted 2001: 37) and LAGET
(Celtic *lag-ito- <*lgwh-eto- Adiminuation, smallness@; IEW: 661; Olmsted 2001: 36) noted in the
beginning of each TII count to be found on the calendar, divide the year into two halves with the year
beginning at midwinter in the LOVDIN or waxing half (Olmsted 1992: 89-90). The TII marks count in the
four 30-day MAT months which occur in the LOVDIN waxing half of the year and in the four 29-day
ANM[AT] months which occur during the LAGET waning half of the year. On analogy with the division of
the year into solar waxing and waning halves, one would expect that in the first year of its first cycle the 30-
year calendar's first day would equate to the new moon (thus its 16th day, day one of the ATENOVX,
would equate to the full moon). In contrast, in the 25-year Coligny cycle with the lunar phases advancing 5
days in each 25-year period (1 day in each 5-year period), no such correlation with constant lunar phases is
possible. In the 30-year calendar one would expect the months, like the years, to be divided into waxing and
waning halves, with the month beginning in the waxing half at the new moon.
The origin of the term ATENOVX, found in all of the months of the Coligny calendar immediately
preceding day 16 (1a) (see plate 4), must date to the period before the adoption of the 25-year cycle, since
the term clearly refers to fixed lunar conditions. Indeed ATENOVX "returning night" is a very descriptive
term to refer to the second waning fortnight (beginning with the full moon), when darkness does increase
progressively from night to night. Since ATENOVX describes what only could have been the beginning of
the waning half of the month, it verifies that in the 30-year calendar, at its first inception, the months began
on the first day of the waxing fortnight, i.e. the new moon. How do we reconcile Plinius's statement that the
month began on the 6th day and the contradictory evidence of the Coligny calendar?
Since the 30-year cycle assumes 10956 days for the 371 lunar months and these months actually
contain 10955.848 days, the moon runs ahead of the 30-year calendar by 1 day every 199 years. If the
calendar was initiated between 1150 and 1100 BC, the early extreme of the dating spread 850 + 300 BC
determined by the displacement of the Irish festivals, the moon would have progressed 5 days with respect
to the calendar by 150 to 100 BC, the probable date for the observation recorded by Plinius.
If Plinius's account, probably originating from Posidonius near the end of the second century BC, is
accepted that the months began on the 6th day of the moon, in its initial period of operation around 1150 to
1100 BC the months would have begun on the 1st day of the new moon. Thus the reason given to Plinius's
observer for beginning the Gaulish months on the 6th day of the moon (that the moon by that date "has
considerable strength") may be seen as a rationalization. The months simply began at that date on the 6th
day of the moon through the gradual progressive displacement of the moon and the calendar due to the error
in the lunar reckoning.
The term IVOS on the Coligny calendar (see plates 4-5) relates for the most part to the lunar
festivals associated with the solstices and equinoxes (with IVOS perhaps derived from IE *ieu-"preparation
of food, feast"). In examining the distribution on the Coligny calendar of the IVOS festival days in normal
years (for the distribution in intercalary years: see Olmsted 1992: 86; tabs. 11b-11c), we should then note
that IVOS usually occurs in clusters of days. During the LOVDIN solar Arising@ half of the year, these IVOS
clusters occur from 2 to 5 days before and after Dumannios 1, Rivros 1a (16), Anagantio 1, and the solstice
at Giamonios 1 all of which have EXO IVOS at day 1 or 1a. During the LAGET solar Adiminishing@ half of
the year, these clusters occur at Elembivios 1, Edrinios 1, and the solstice at Samonios 1 (see Table 6), all of
which have simply IVOS at day 1. Except for a few singular occurrences, IVOS then occurs in groups
clustering about day 1. The pattern of EXO IVOS for the festivals in the waxing half of the year ending in
solstice at Giamonios and the pattern of simply IVOS for the festivals in the waning half of the year ending
in the solstice at Samonios suggest the month and festival names refer to the preceding halves of the year
rather than the following. Thus the festival at Samonios refers to the preceding summer half of the year
from midsummer to midwinter and is the low point occurring at midwinter of the lowering or diminishing
half-year solar cycle. The festival at Giamonios refers to the preceding winter half of the year from
midwinter to midsummer and is the high point occurring at midsummer of the rising or increasing half-year
solar cycle. Thus ironically the midwinter festival occurs in Samonios containing the root sam- Asummer@
and the midsummer festival occurs in Giamonios containing the root giam- Awinter@.
That the notation IVOS about Samonios 1 does relate to a festival finds support in the Old Irish tale
of Serglige con Culainn (Dillon 1953: 1). The tale opens "Oenach dognìthe la Ultu cecha blíadna .i. tri lá
ría samfuin 7 tri laa íarma 7 ocus lathe na samna feisne.", which is to say "the Ulstermen hold a festival
every year: on the three days before Samain, the three days after Samain, and upon the day of Samain
itself". The distribution of the oenach festival days about Samain (cognate with Samonios) then shows the
same pattern as the distribution of IVOS about Samonios day 1. Indeed, it is this similarity which led
Thurneysen (1899: 530) to see the meaning of IVOS as "feast". Now in Ireland, Samain is the festival of the
beginning of winter, although it contains the root *sam- "summer". Although the Irish festivals have been
displaced as a block with respect to their original position in the year, it seems clear that, like the Celts who
settled in Gaul, the Celts who settled in Ireland originally celebrated the beginning of winter at midwinter
(December 25 at the beginning of the Julian calendar).
Thus there is a correlation between the winter festival days centered about Samain in early Ireland
and the block of IVOS days about the solstice on Samonios 1, the low point of the whole solar lowering or
summer half of the year on the Coligny calendar. One similarly can relate the festival centered about
Beltaine and the block of IVOS and EXO IVOS days about Giamonios 1, associated with the summer
solstice, the high point of the whole rising or winter half of the year. The other Irish festivals Imbolc and
Lugnasad might then be related (Olmsted 1992: tab. 56) to the IVOS days about Rivros 1a or about
Anagantio 1, apparently festivals associated with the spring equinox, and to the IVOS days about
Elembivios 1, apparently a festival associated with the fall equinox.
Thus the Coligny calendar demonstrates that the Gaulish IVOS festivals may be correlated with the
later Irish Quarter Festivals. We have noted that Samonios 1 may be correlated with midwinter for the first
year of the calendar's operation, since Samonios 1 is the beginning of the LOVDIN Arising@ cycle of the sun,
which the corresponding TII marks count out. In contrast, the cognate Irish Samain occurs on November 1.
The fact that this Irish festival, like the other Irish quarter festivals, is 55 days out of whack with the solar
year may then be explained as the result of a gradual calendar error, the resultant apparently of the early
Celts, including those who settled in Ireland, utilizing a 30-year calendar, out of whack with solar time by 1
day every 23.7 years. So too, the corresponding Irish rituals and festivals associated with these quarter days
can be aligned with those occurring elsewhere in European or Indo-Iranian culture associated with the
solstices and equinoxes. With the adoption of the Julian calendar around 450 AD in early Christian Ireland,
the original rough correlation of the festivals with solar events would long been forgotten or perhaps best
forgotten, since they were originally pagan in nature. The shifted festivals then became canonized to fixed
dates within the new calendar as the Quarter Festivals of the Irish year.
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 Plate 1
Fall Festival

Ireland Iran

Festival named after God X X

Legal cases tried
Treaties declared
Considered first day of Fall
Harvest festival
Celebration of Summer
Festival date Aug. 1  7 days
Festival date Sept. 20-7
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X
X

Spring Festival
Rome Ireland Iran Greece Hebrides
Weeping, laughing, sleeping X X
Considered first of Spring X X X X X
God transported to underworld X X
God made whole in underworld X X
Evergreen tree as God X X X
God drowned in water X X
God revives Feb. 1  7 days X
God revives March 20-7 X
Goddess of childbirth X X
Goddess in procession X X
Goddess washed in river X X
Goddess with serpent X X X
Renewal of Goddess X X X
Goddess bewails son X X
Goddess festival Feb. 1  7 X X
Goddess festival March 20-7 X
Bull in Spring ritual X X X
Bull origin as man X X X
Bull/animal transformations X X X
Bull goes into water X X X
Bull fights adversary X X
Bull torn apart X X
Bull creates waters/landscape X X
Bull controls tree fruit X X
Bull festival date Feb. 1  7 X
Bull festival date March 20-7 X X
 Plate 2

Symmetry and Time Units of the Thirty-Year Cycle

1 Day (Divos/Latios)
1 Week (Irish Cóicde) = 5 Days
1 Fortnight (Irish Cóicthiges) = 15 Days (Waning Fortnight Atenoux 14/15 Days)
1 Matus Month (Mids) = 30 Days or 6 Five-Day Weeks
1 Anmatus Month (Mids) = 29 Days
1 Average Lunar Month = 29.5310 Days (Actual Lunar Month = 29.5306 Days)
12 Lunar Months = 353/355 Days (355 in Years 1,3,5)
13 Lunar Months (Inos) = 385 Days
1 Average Lunar Year = 354.3720 Days (Actual Lunar Year = 354.3671 Days)
1 Solar Year = 365.2 Days for Scheme of Months and Festivals
1 Solar Year = 365.23 Days for Counting Scheme (Solar Year = 365.2422 Days)
2 2 Years = 30 Months (Month of Months)(Time Between Intercalary Months)
5 Years = 61 Months (1801 Days) (1 Intercalary Month)
5 Years = 62 Months (1831 Days) (2 Intercalary Months)
5 Actual Solar Years = 1826.2110 Days (Difference = 25.211 Days; 4.789 Days)
30 Years = 6 Five-Year Phases = 12 (30 Month phases)
30 Years = 6 Week-of-Five-Year Phases
30 Years = 1 Month of Years = 1 Year of Month of Months
30 Years = 371 Months
371 Months = 10956 Days (Actually 10955. 848 Days)
Lunar/Calendar Difference = .152 Days; .152 Days Counting Error (0 Days)
30 Solar Years = 10957.266 Days
Solar/Calendar Difference = 1.266 Days; .266 Days Counting Error (1 Day)

Changes in Time Units for the Twenty-Five-Year Cycle

12 Lunar Months = 353/354/355 Days (355 in 1,3,5; 353 in 2; 354 in 4)
1 Solar Year = 365.2 Days for Scheme of Months and Festivals
1 Solar Year = 365.24 Days for Counting Scheme (Solar Year = 365.2422 Days)
5 Years = 61 Months (1802 Days) (1 Intercalary Month)
5 Years = 62 Months (1832 Days) (2 Intercalary Months)
5 Actual Solar Years = 1826.2110 Days (Difference = 24.211 Days; 5.789 Days)
25 Years = 309 Months
309 Months = 9130 Days (Actually 9124.952 Days)
Lunar/Calendar Difference = 5.048 Days; .048 Days Counting Error (5 Days)
25 Solar Years = 9131.055 Days
Solar/Calendar Difference = 1.055 Days; .055 Days Counting Error (1 Day)
 Plate 3

DISTRIBUTION OF IVOS IN NORMAL YEARS

SAM DVM RIV ANA OGR QVT GIA SEM EQV ELE EDR CAN
DAY M1 A2 M3 A4 M5 M6 A7 M8 A9 A10 M11 A12
................................................. 
1 :IVO:XIV: :XIV: : :XIV: : :IVO:IVO: :
2 :IVO:IVO: :IVO: : :IVO: : :IVO:IVO: :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
3 :IVO:IVO: :IVO: : :IVO: : :IVO:IVO: :
4 : :IVO: : : : : : : :IVO: : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
5 : : : : : : : : : (IVO 2 only):
6: : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
7: : : : : : : : : : : : :
8: : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
9 : : : : : : : :SIV: : : : :
10 : : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
11 : : : : : : : : : : : : :
12 : : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
13 : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
14 : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
15 : :
:IVO: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :...:...:...:...:...:...:...:.
..:...:...:...:...:
1a : : :XIV: : : : : : : : : :
2a : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
3a : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
4a : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
5a : : :IVO: : : : : : : : : :
6a : : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
7a : : : : : : : : : : : : :
8a : : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
9a : : : : : : : : : : : : :
10a : : : : : : : : : : :SIV: :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
11a :IVO: :IVO: : : : : :IVO: : : :
12a :IVO: :IVO: : : : : :IVO: : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
13a :IVO: :IVO: : :IVO: : :IVO: : :IVO:
14a :IVO: :IVO: : :IVO: : (IVO not 2) :IVO:
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:
15a :IVO: :IVO: : :IVO: : (IVO not 2,4) :
: : : : : : : : : : : : :
:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...:...: