A BATAK PEOPLE CARVED BONE CALENDAR, PORHALAANIndonesia, Sumatra, Batak People, first half of the 20th century. Crafted from bone and carved to both sides with various iconographic, symbolic, figural, and geometrical patterns. Like other bone inscriptions, this one likely contains important calendrical information used by priests to predict favorable days for specific activities. For agricultural communities, the calendar served as an essential tool to guide the timing of planting, growth, and harvest, based on the movement of the sun and moon. With a modern metal stand. Condition: Good condition with minor wear and natural imperfections to the material. Provenance: The collection of The Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum. Institutional art collection in Belgium, acquired from the above. Dr. István Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe. Weight: 200 g (incl. the stand) Dimensions: Length 37 cmThe Porhalaan is the traditional calendar of the Batak people of North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a lunisolar calendar, consisting of 12 months divided to 30 days with an occasional leap month. Unlike a conventional time-keeping system, the Batak calendar is used mainly to determine auspicious days, and not to tell time. The responsibility of utilizing this calendar to divine favorable days is entrusted only to the Batak shaman.