THEME: Time in symbols. Our desire to control and mark time passing.
INSPIRATION: Clogg Almanacs – believed to have been introduced to Britain by the Norse Invaders (Vikings) when they settled here (835-1040AD). Derived from Scandinavian Primstavs, Cloggs are perpetual calendars made of wood and shaped as four-sided oblong blocks. Each side is carved along one edge with important days, such as Saints days, festivals, etc and the other edge shows the Metonic (19 year) cycle of new moons – sometimes referred to as Golden Numbers. Each side of the Clogg shows a quarter year (3months).
The Metonic cycle is a 19 year cycle, discovered in 432BC by the astronomer, Meton, when he observed that a period of 19 years is (within a few hours) equal to 235 lunar months, thereby determining that the moon’s cycle will be on the same day every 19 years. This Metonic cycle is used by the Christian churches to determine Easter each year.
A year is a circle as well as a line – it repeats itself while it progresses.
“…the future yet sprang forward in sudden jolts, time itself not a smooth curve but full of suddenness, leaps and stillness.”
From: Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams.
“The present moment now always stays the same, but the sense of passing time varies, and people live in different cycles of time.”
From: Being oneself – The Way of Meditation.
And he answered: ‘You would measure time, the measureless and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.’
From: The Profit by Kahlil Gibran
Calendars are not settled things, they are shaped by their makers, and the difference between them reflects different conceptions of the world.’
From: Time & Place – Alexandra Harris
