Abstract
Wooden calendar sticks have preserved an archaic time-keeping tradition, which, during the Middle Ages, was one of the tools for establishing and disseminating Christian chronology and the liturgical calendars of the Western and Eastern Churches. The calendars vary in size and shape, type of signs, and structure of the record. Christian symbols interwoven with signs and pictograms mark days of importance in the ritual and economic year cycle. The wooden calendars are considered one of the proofs of the syncretism between the pagan tradition and Christian rites in folk cultures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Gavazzi M (1930) Drveni kalendar – rovaš sa Jadrana. Narodna Starina 9(23):331–333
Gavazzi M (1938) Drevni kalendari. In: Kalendar sv. Ante za prostu godinu 1939, Sarajevo, god. XIV: 15–18
Hallonquist S-G (2003) Swedish calendar staffs. In: Blomberg M, Blomberg PE, Henriksson G (eds) Calendars, symbols and orientations: legacies of astronomy in culture. Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, Report No. 59, Uppsala, pp 11–14
Klimka LA (1986) Runicheskie kalendari v Litve. In: Gurstein AA (ed) Istoriko-astronomicheskie issledovaniya, vol XVIII. Nauka, Moskva, pp 339–344
Koleva V (2010) Bulgarian wooden calendars. Folklore 44:77–96
Koleva V, Georgiev I (2006) A wooden calendar from southeastern Bulgaria. Aerosp Res Bulg 20:341–346
Koleva S, Koleva V (2006) The Finnish wooden calendars and some aspects of folk knowledge in the Middle Ages. In: Soltysiak A (ed) Proceedings of the conference on time and astronomy in the past cultures, held in Toruń 2005. Warszawa & Toruń, pp 149–166
Lange TW (2010) The Scandinavian clog calendar at the Jagiellonian University Museum. Opuscula Musealia 18:91–99
Lipin V (2006) Derevyannie reznie kalendari-svyatsi v sobranii Nacionalnogo muzeya Respubliki Komi. Аrt 3:120–128
Orlova EP (1966) Kalendari narodov Severa i Dalnego Vostoka. Sibirskiy Arheologicheskiy Sbornik 2:297–321
Savvaitov PI (1871) O zyryanskih derevyannyh kalendaryah i o permskoj azbuke, izobretennoy Sv. Stefanom. Trudy pervogo arheologicheskogo syezda v Moskve 1869 g., vol II, Moskva, pp 408–416
Sebestyén G (2002) Rovás és rovásίrás. Tinta Könyvkiadó, Budapest
Sreznevskiy VI (1876) Severniy reznoy calendar. Trudy vtorogo arheologicheskogo syezda v Sankt Peterburge, vol 1–2, Sankt Peterburg
Stipa GJ (1966) Zum Kulturbereich der syrjänischen Kerbkalender. Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen, Band XXXVI, Heft 1–2: 181–207
Židov N (2010) Rovaši: zbirka Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja - tally sticks: the collection of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana
Acknowledgments
The research was carried out within the framework of a joint research project with the National Board of Antiquities, Finland, granted by the Bulgarian and Finnish Academy of Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Koleva, V., Koleva, S. (2015). Wooden Calendar Sticks in Eastern Europe. In: Ruggles, C. (eds) Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_181
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_181
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6140-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6141-8
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics