Note 533 — Chapter VI · LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK

The lunar year of twelve synodic months consists, exactly, of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 36 seconds. The Maori have a legend to the effect that their ancient year contained ten months only, until a certain teacher, full of divine wisdom, instructed them to make their year twelve months long (E. Tregear, The Maori Race, Wanganui [N.Z.], 1904, p. 143). The Chinese have a similar tradition of a ten-month year (H. A. Giles, A Glossary of References on Subjects connected with the Far East,³ Shanghai, 1900, p. 183). The Roman “year of Romulus” consisted of ten months and (commonly) three hundred and four days (Censorinus, De die natali, xx, 2-3; Lydus, De mensibus, i, 16). Sceptical modern historians are inclined to dismiss the Roman tradition as a mere figment of the imagination.