To find the dominical letter of a particular year, it
is first necessary to find the place of the year in the
cycle of the sun. As, according to the chronology of
Dionysius, Christ is said to have been bom in the ninth
year of the cycle of the sun, the place of a particular
year in the cycle of the sun is found by adding 9 to
the given year, and dividing the whole by 28, the re- ^
mainder indicating the place of the year in the cycle.
For instance, to find the dominical letter for the year
1868+9 1877 1868, we add 9 and divide by 28 ; thus, — -- — = >
28 28
which leaves a remainder of 1. The year 1868, there- fore, is the first of the cycle of the sun for the present century (the omission of the intercalary day in the year 1800, as stated above, interrupting the regular order of the cycle). The cycle of the dominical letter is as follows :
Ymt. Dom.L. Ymt. Dom.L. Ymit. Dom. L.I Year. Dom.L.
l8t
ed
8th
c
15th
a
22d
f
2d
c
9th
ba
16th
£
23d
e
8d
h
10th
g
17th
24th
d
4th
a
11th
f
18th
d
2Sth
Gb
5ih
gf
12th
e
19th
e
26th
a
6th
d
18th
dc
20th
b
27th
g
7th
e
Utb
b
21gt
•g
28th
f
The intercalary year 1868, as the first of a new cycle, has therefore the two dominical letters e d, e from Jan. 1 to Feb. 24, and d from Feb. 25 to Dec. 81. Af- ter thus ascertaining the dominical letter of the year, it is easy to find what days of every month are Sun- days. For that purpose the initial letters of the sev- eral words in the following two hexameters are used : ^stra I>abit ]>ominufl Qratlaqae Beabit Sgeuos CH^tia CbriBtiooUe Peret ^lurea Dona pidelL The initial letters of the words of these two verses are the letters designating the first days of every month. A being the 1st of January, and E being the dominical letter of the year 1868 from Jan. 1 to Feb. 24, the Sun- days of 1868 are the 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th of Janu- ary. The initial D of the second word shows that the first dominical letter (E) of February falls on the 2d of February. For March and the following months, the dominical letter of the year 1868 is />; consequently, the first Sundays of the following months are, March 1, April 5, May 8, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 6, October 4, November 1, and December 6.
Finally, in order to ascertain upon which day of the month and the week fiill and new moons occur, the Epacts are used. — ^Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lex. ii, 960. See Epacts ; Chronology, Christian.
Cymbal (^^^^) tseUOsal', in the plur. 2 Sam. vi, 5; Psa. cl, 5 ; or T^^^'O^metse'leth^ in the dual, 1 Chron. xiii,8; xv, 16, 19, 28 ;' xvi, 6, 42 ; xxv,l,6; 2 Chron. V, 12, 13; xxix, 25; Ezra iii, 10; Neh. xii, 27; both from W^, tsakdf, to tinkle; KvfifidKov, in the plur. 1 Esdr. iv, 9 ; Judith xvi, 2 ; 1 Mace, iv, 54 ; 1 Cor. xiii, 1), a musical instrument consisting of two convex pieces of brass, which are struck together to make the rythm or time, and produce a loud clanging sound. They are generally employed in connection with the drum in out-door orehestras. Josephus {Ant, vii, 12, 3) describes in like manner the cjmbals (jcvfifiaXa) used in the Temple services as " large plates of brass." They were used flrom the most ancient times in the East as a part of a martial band in public religious oc- casions (1 Chron. xiii, 8), and also by females in con- nection with dancing (Lucian, SaUaL c. 68; comp. Chrysost. in Gen. XXIV, hom. 48 ; Clem. AL Ptedoff. ii,4); also along with the drum (Pliny, V, i). Niebnhr {Reis. i, 181, pi. 27) learned that in Arabia two kinds of castanets were employed in a similar manner ; one of small metal clappers held between the thumb and fingers, especially by females, as with the dancing- girls of Egj-pt (Lane, Mod. Eg. ii, 106) ; the other con- sisting of larger pieces of metal, like our cymbals. Pfeiffer (Mnsik der Eebr. p. 55) thinks this distinction
CYMBAL
622
CYMBAL
Dmndng Fignrea, with CaateaelB.— From HercnlaDenm. is intended between the two kindB of cymbals men- tioned in Psa. cl, 5, 9Q^ *^^?^^ "load cymbals,** and nr-l-in '^^2fb3t, »* high- sounding cymbab." "The
Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthon, the lenowiked ombn on of the music of the sanctuaxr, employed &e hi cymbals* possibly to beat time, and to give tix sot to the choir when it was to take part m ^ sks chant* * (Smith). The ancient Egyptians Hkewk U cymbals and cylindrical maces (croUxiiL, or 6a^ two of which were struck together, and probaUjoA^ ted a sharp metallic sound. The cymbtli 9& i mixed metal, apparently brass, or a compooBd dkm and silver, and of a form exactly resembling tktti modem times, though smaller, being only serftf five inches and a half in diameter. The hsffiS^v also of brass, bound with leather, string; or tcr lar substance, and being inserted in a smsll hok i the summit, was secured by bending ba^ tk m ends. The same kind of instrument is used h h modem inhabitants of the country, and tern da have been borrowed the yery smidl cymbsk \hm with the finger and thumb, which supply the pbn< castanets in the almeh dance. These wen tht <s^ of the Spanish castanet, having been introdoced ai tliat country by the Moors, and afterwards aha«d& form, and made of chestnut (castafia) and ocfaeriai instead of metal. The cymbals of modem Egrpt 9 Deter, de VEgypte^ xiii, 496 sq.) are chiefly used k i^ attendants of sheiks* tombs, who travel tfaroni^ a country at certain periods of the year to exact (!ks^ table donations from the credulous or the derost mso^ the Moslems by the promise of some blesaof fr»!x indulgent saint Drums and some other siasji&ia-