Vintage Antique Sumatra Batak Indonesia Cow Bone & Bamboo Hanging retailer Calendar

For sale is a bone & bamboo calendar from the Batak of Northern Sumatra were one of the few canabalistic tribes to retailer have a written script of their own. It is related to the Brahmi of India and ancient Javanese writing systems. It is believed to be derived from Sanskrit.

The porhalaan is the traditional calendar of the Batak.
It is a lunisolar calendar consisting of twelve months divided into thirty days with an occasional leap month. It is not used for time or date keeping, but by the Datu/Shaman for determining favorable or unfavorable days to hold rituals.

The Intricate bone header designs may include scorpions, geckos, beetles and snakes; and the bamboo strands represent each month. Each month is separated into days by hash marks.

The calendars are read right to left and the days of each month are read top to bottom.