WHAT IS THIS? This image represents an annual cycle of deeply held, seasonal activities and movements (lifeway) for at least one band of Aquitainian (proto-Basque) speaking hunter-fisher gatherers of the Atlantic margin of France (see map) prior to their displacement by neolithic cultures. This ever-growing pool of cultural knowledge has been gathered over the last fifteen+ years through a process of ancestral recovery.
Download the calendar poster (21 in x 28 in) in PDF format [Version January/17].
WHERE DID THIS INFORMATION COME FROM? Information presented in this calendar has grown from a variety of sources including scientific research, archeological findings, intuitive experiences, language recovery, and cultural practice. The ongoing accumulation of intuitive ancestral recovery combined with academic research allows for this calendar to grow and evolve.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Skeptics will argue that the only way to recover information like that contained in this calendar is through the scientific method. But western science is just one form of science. To deny Indigenous forms of “science” or understanding is at best myopic, and at worst – a form of eurocentric racial supremacy. Indigenous peoples all over the world have held complex understandings of life – including the communication of relationship across space and time that defies western understanding. This information is understood within a framework called Living History. <– Follow the link for more information.
WHAT VALUE DOES THIS CALENDAR HOLD? The calendar is offered especially for those persons whose ancestral recovery work takes them farther back in time than connection to neolithic or “Celtic” ancestors and ways of life. It is my deepest hope that this seasonal cycle will also serve as a source of inspiration for others to recover, grow, and follow their own people’s ancestral lifeways and seasonal relationships. This is ancestral recovery in its truest form – and yes, it can be done!
GRATITUDE: I am deeply grateful for my ancestors and relatives who make ancestral recovery a very real and present experience. I also offer gratitude for my adopted Indigenous family of Turtle Island whose sharing of their own traditional thought and philosophy inspires me to learn and recover my own sacred cultural ways of being. It’s real, and it’s powerful!
NOTES: The timing of this calendar is in the period after the Younger Dryas (circa 13,000 years ago or 11,000bp). The seasonal hunting cycles of reindeer and other mammoth steppe species are not included in this time frame as these animals had begun their movement north towards Scandinavia and Siberia or were unable to cope with a warming climate and transition from grassland to forest. I’m considering including these animals in at least one version of this calendar. New research on these species provides key insights into the overall migration and social patterns of human peoples of the area that matches with intuitive information I’ve received.
This is the annual cycle my family follows as much as possible. If you don’t feel comfortable using it for any reason- then please don’t. It’s a lifetime work-in-progress and it is already growing and evolving.
The original calendar cycle our family follows is based in Euskara/Aquitanian language. However, I’ve translated all Basque or proto-Basque language to english in the best way possible to make it generally accessible. Also, while ceremonial times are included, it would be inappropriate to provide additional details publicly.
Please respect the integrity of the calendar, artwork, and the sacred way of life it represents.
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Unbelievable scholarship, Thank you Ana
Thank you!