28-05-2025, 03:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 28-05-2025, 03:55 AM by Jorge_Stolfi.)
Currently each sign of the Zodiac starts around the 20th of one month and ends around the 20th of the next month. I suppose that these dates were chosen so that the solstices and equinoxes fall on sign boundaries. Is that correct?
So the VMS Zodiac is already strange in that the month name written under each sign's icon is only 2/3 correct. Thus for instance Sagittarius is labeled "December", but 10 days of that sign are in November. So the correct label should have been "November-December".
However, I have run into two sources that state that "in the Middle Ages" each sign started on the 1st of the month, instead of on the 20th. Unfortunately those articles did not say when the sync with the equinoxes took place. If the switch happened after the VMS was written, all those written month names are one month off. namely, the label under Sagittarius should have been "November", not "December". And ditto for all other months
Anyway, it seems that the VMS month names were written after the Zodiac sync.
Thoughts?
All the best, --stolfi
So the VMS Zodiac is already strange in that the month name written under each sign's icon is only 2/3 correct. Thus for instance Sagittarius is labeled "December", but 10 days of that sign are in November. So the correct label should have been "November-December".
However, I have run into two sources that state that "in the Middle Ages" each sign started on the 1st of the month, instead of on the 20th. Unfortunately those articles did not say when the sync with the equinoxes took place. If the switch happened after the VMS was written, all those written month names are one month off. namely, the label under Sagittarius should have been "November", not "December". And ditto for all other months
Anyway, it seems that the VMS month names were written after the Zodiac sync.
Thoughts?
All the best, --stolfi
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