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The most ancient counting of changes in Nature, though, is considered to be the one of the phases of the moon. In an Internet site called THE MOON IN ANCIENT HISTORY – ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL CALENDARS (s. site) we can read: “There are ‘Man made’ lunar calendars that some scientists place as old as 32,000 years. Some recent archeological findings are from the Ice Age where hunters carved notches and gouged holes into sticks, reindeer bones and the tusks of mammoths, depicting the days between each phase of the Moon.” This continuous change that never alters in one of the most sacred objects of human beliefs – the Moon – must have left a strong impression on all peoples around the world. So much so, that as far as known to historians, all earlier calendars were lunar in nature. The word “calendar” itself seems to derive from the Latin word “kalendae”, referring to the first day of every month.
The following peoples are among those who are known to initially have a lunar calendar, and some of them still use it today: Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Hindu, Chinese, Mayan, the Celts, Jews and Muslims.
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Counting the phases of the moon, however, has no reference to the changes in the seasons, which depend on the relative position of the earth in reference to the sun, and is more relevant to the physical environment of human beings (while the attitude toward the moon has always been of a more spiritual nature).
Observing the changes of seasons and their effect on life around them was important for the gatherer-hunters long before farming. They had to know when and where the various parts of plants appear