The builders of Stonehenge five millennia ago revered the long cycles of time. Their monument measured the annual rhythms of the sun from equinox to equinox and the subtle 18.6-year oscillations of the rising moon. Through a hundred generations, they revised and recalibrated their circles of earth and stone to bind their lives with celestial time. A world away, under the tropical sun, Mayans identified their place in time within expansive overlapping patterns of days. Their Long Count calendar encompassed cycles that stretched 5, 000 years, from the primordial origins of life to the imponderable beginnings of a new era. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 39 Half a Notion A reassessment of ambivalence. Arts & Culture Issue 35 Object Matters A timely history of the alarm clock. Arts & Culture Issue 19 Like Clockwork In this new column about time, we learn how slipping off our watches makes us feel like deadline-damning renegades. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Alice Sheppard On dance as a channel to commune with the body—even when it hurts. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Dr. Woo Meet the tattoo artist who's inked LA. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Walt Odets The author and clinical psychologist on why self-acceptance is the key to a gay man's well-being.
Arts & Culture Issue 19 Like Clockwork In this new column about time, we learn how slipping off our watches makes us feel like deadline-damning renegades.
Arts & Culture Issue 47 Alice Sheppard On dance as a channel to commune with the body—even when it hurts.
Arts & Culture Issue 47 Walt Odets The author and clinical psychologist on why self-acceptance is the key to a gay man's well-being.
