Measuring time by the stars
People of long ago lived out of doors most of the time, so they were
used to seeing the stars at night. And they knew that the stars moved
across the sky during the year.
Because the stars always followed the same path, and came back to where
they started, people learned to recognize the seasons from the stars.
When a certain star appeared low in the sky in the spring, they knew
that it was time to plow their fields. When the star reached another
part of the sky, it was time to plant the seed. Later, the position of
another star told them it was time to begin harvesting.
Of course, the stars don’t really move. They only seem to move because
the Earth moves. The Earth travels around the sun, taking one year to
make the complete trip. Thus, a certain group of stars that can be seen
in one part of the sky in winter, will be in a different part of the sky
in summer.
When people became used to watching for a certain star, they began to
think of the time between each appearance of that star as what we call a
year. This meant that, depending on which star was used, the year would
begin at different times for people of different lands.
The ancient Egyptians started their year in the middle of July, when the
star they called Sothis appeared. The Jewish people have always begun
the year in the fall. When the Pilgrims came to America, they celebrated
New Year’s Day on March 25. But today, people in most parts of the world
start the year on January 1.
