December Magazine

 

The word twelve, whose early English-Germanic roots derive from “two left”- or two left over after counting to ten – completes a certain cycle for us. We count the hours by 12’s. After twelve o’clock we start counting again. Twice every day we count out twelve hours. And I hope you all know by now what time it is when your clock strikes thirteen. That’s right! Time to get your clock fixed!

The Sumerians, who bequeathed to us this lovely 12-based system of telling time, used a sexagonal number system, which means based on the 60. The Sumerian year was divided into twelve 30-day months, in accordance with the twelve signs of the zodiac. A Sumerian year thus had exactly 360 days. However, 5 days remained unaccounted for! The Sumerians solved this little problem by declaring five “free” holiday days at the end of each year. After five days of New Year’s partying, no one apparently cared that the math didn’t work out so perfect. Anyhow, we still divide our days and nights into 12 hour segments, each hour being further subdivided into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. Likewise, based on the Sumerian system, we use 360 degrees to measure a circle. Works out pretty well.

Twelve has a lot of factors: 2, 6, 3, and 4. There are twelve inches in a foot, twelve notes in the chromatic scale, twelve days of Christmas, and twelve tribes of Israel. Of course, there are 12 signs in the zodiac – which probably lies at the bottom of all this 12 business. We have twelve jurors, and twelve AA steps to sobriety. Also, there were twelve Olympians, twelve knights at the Round table, twelve pence to a shilling, and twelve eggs to the dozen.

Which all brings us back to twelve months in the year. Yes, at long last we are coming to the end of the year, thank goodness. May the next twelve months be healthy and safe ones. A Happy and Safe Holiday Season to all! 

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Twelve Gates to the City