Béu : Chapter 10
What is béu
béu is a way of life. Probably the most detailed part of that way of life is the language of béu or beuba. However it is the part of béu that is least known by the general public.
First some new words concerning béu ...
beuke = a person that follows the precepts of béu and takes part in the community of béu or beugan
beubu = a person that follows the precepts of béu but follows them in a private manner.
beugan = the community of béu
-ke is a suffix that has inside it the idea of "member" ... -bu is a suffix that has inside it the idea of "person"
béu is one of the few words that takes both suffixes. Usually a noun would only be augmented with one of these suffixes. For example ...
pulis = the police ... puliske = a policeman (or policewoman) ... ʔazwo = milk ... ʔazwobu = a milkman
It is thought that policemen co-ordinate their activities together and hence are given the -ke suffix.
It is thought that the milkmen don't o-ordinate their activities and hence are given the -bu suffix.
Of course you might come across a situation where the police fail to co-ordinate their activities and a group of milkmen co-ordinate their activities brilliantly ... nevertheless ... puliske = policemn and ʔazwobu = milkman.
beuda would be an area under béu political control ... probably will never happen
Now as béu takes the place in a persons life* normally taken by a religion, the béu names of the major religions are given here.
*But following the precepts of béu does not in theory bar one from following another religion, as being a Buddhist doesn't force one to reject the Hindu gods, etc. etc.
kristi = chistianity ... kristike = a churchgoer ... kristibu = a christian but not necessarily a churchgoer/ a believer ... kristida = christendom (archaic term)
muzlu = islam
buda = buddhism
yuda = judism
sai.entolo = scientology ... the last 4 terms also take the -ke and -bu suffixes. Notice that none of these names take the -gan suffix.
I will say again ... béu is a way of life ... beugan is a community of followers béu. Why do the other 5 religions not get the -gan suffix? Probably because the béu way of life is so minutely detailed (more so than orthodox Judism (and a lot more elegantly and self-consistantly, if I may say so) that the two words ... béu and beugan are necessary to fill up all the semantic space.
The waterfall chimes
Near every habitation (well not individual houses) but every village anyway. Has a waterfall chimes. Nobody knows why they are called waterfall chimes. The chimes consist of three tubes that each produce a different note when hit. These chimes ring through out the day (especially late morning and mid afternoon) and give all hearers a feeling of supreme satisfaction. it gives them a feeling that all is well in the world.
beubua do not like noise around their habitations. They like to hear the sound that a breeze makes as it goes through the village. The biggest sound in a béu village is the sound of children playing. All vehicles are electric, all horses have rubber shoes and cart wheels have muffled rims. All machines of industry are carefully designed for quiet operation.
The bells ring out about every 15 minutes (but impossible to predict exactly). 29 (17 consonants + 11 vowels/diphthongs + R) symbols from the alphabet are encoded by the chimes. (27 three chimes long and 2 four chimes long ??) ... (the tone mark is not encoded, but it is not necessary for decipherment). Usually short poems, a bit like a Japanese haiku, are rang out. Nearly all adults can understand the chimes. They take great delight in hearing novel "haiku". Also people take great delight in composing novel "haiku" that relate a local happening concerning local characters. An appropriate "haiku" can be the talk of the village for months (and the talk of the neighbouring villages as well).
Also the chimes are used to inform people of things like football scores, etc. etc.
The house cell
In the Christian religion, for the average adherent, the hour spent in church on Sunday represents the main obligation ... in terms of time anyway. Of course most Christians support their church financially and often their devotion results in some socialising with their fellows believers. This socializing usually has the aim of doing good-works but of course people enjoy socializing and these get-togethers often supply moral support with respect to personal problems and probably there is mutual re-enforcing of beliefs and a feeling of "solidarity" with respect to life's problems and the rest of the world in general.
The main time demand for a beuke is not sitting in a church listening to sermons but privately reading. This reading is done in a special room called a "cell". The volumes containing the body of knowledge that is considered "canonical" is read.
This reading is the most basic obligation however and most also go in for other "duties" such as dietary restrictions and prescribed daily excercise routines (to some extent at least). Many also volunteer time and money to the many activities which are proscribed by béu to promote personal happiness and social cohesion (these activities are actually designed to have the results (mentioned in the above paragraph) which seems like a chance by-product of certain Christian practices).
Other sections will go into detail about the duties touched on above. However this section is only about how the requirement to spend a certain time each day, reading the body of knowledge that béu considers "canonical" * affects the architecture of the typical béu followers place of residence.
..
..
The above shows the plan view of a "cell" : the room in which the reading of the "canonical" works is done. There is usually a cell in every family dwelling. It is a requirement that the cell is perfectly square and is windowless. Also the only lighting permitted is two oil lanterns fitted over either shoulder of the "reader" to cast light over the top of the lectern.
Behind the door is situated the bookcase that contain the "tomes" that constitute the béu canon. It is attached to the wall as opposed to standing on the floor. It can also be recessed into the wall.
Facing the door there is a large tapestry (a poster would also do). The image is usually of an awe-inspiring view of nature. However colourful fractals or geometric patterns are also quite common.
The rectangular object is a lectern. And behind the lectern is a comfy seat. And either side of the seat (above on the wall) are two lanterns.
As can been seen, the seat and the lectern are quite low. The chair is legless and the usual method is just to cross your legs on the floor just to the front of the seat.
It is common to excercise and bathe before doing your daily reading. Also many change into loose robes of a light blue colour, before entering the cell.
On the wall facing the lectern is "the shelf".
..
..
Below is shown a robe that is optionally put on before entering the cell to read. It is light blue ... quite similar to a robe that an Egyptian peasant would wear.
..
..
Below is shown the shelf attached to the wall facing the reader. About 4 or 5 feet of the ground. It is in the shape of an ellipse from which a third has been cut off from the depth, allowing it to be flush with the wall. In the middle is a small naked flame in a glass. Either side of the are two oblong vases with flowers. On the extremities (over the focuses) are two objects d'art. (the support or supports for the shelf are not shown)
..
..
Below is shown one of the lanterns. Obviously to prevent fire these ate placed in fairly substantial brackets connected to the wall.
..
..
Other items sometimes found in the cell ...
The books are meant to be read in 20 minute sittings and there is ofter an egg-times that counts out about 20 minutes. Usually about 6 inches high and kept on a special indentation on the lectern
A large glass goblet filled with marbles. They are numbered and come in different sizes. Used for keeping a record of what chapters have been read. All the marbles from one book would have the same size and colour. Perhaps inside the lectern is a large wooden tray with indentations. One indentation for every marble. When the goblet is empty and the tray is full, the course of study has been completed.
Large cards. A bit like playing cards but bigger and more solid. Each with intricate designs on it. Usually some sort of fancy box for them as well. These are for keeping a record of what chapters have been read.
Obviously if you have the cards you won't need the goblet and vice versa.
..
- At the present time, the body of work that is considered "canonical", consists of 15 volume (at the present time)s. However unlike other movements ... in béu, there is actually a mechanism for updating and improving these "proscribed books". The very opposite to every other religion. Every other religion has shown a strong instinct to hastily gather a body of script together and then to "set it in stone" ... well that is a by-product of our mental make-up. Hopefully the results of a more deliberate method will also be considered worthy of reverence ( or a little consideration at least :-) ).
..
The "canon"
Well there is the main volume of course ???
..
Then there is the 5 volumes containing the "5 main subjects".
History ... I have temporarily made Jared Diamonds book, "Guns, Germs and Steel" canonical (until the proper tome can be written of course).
Mathematics ...
Chemistry ... (maybe 30 % of the pages of this book will be given over to organic chemistry)
Physics ... Actually more comprising what I would call Engineering Science ( motion of bodies, forces and their direction within a bridge, etc. etc. )
The language of Béu ... actually a broader linguistic course
..
Then there is the 5 volumes containing the "5 minor subjects".
Human Physiology/Health ... maybe about 10 % of the pages of this book will be given over to how other animals do things (after first explaining how the human body does things of course)
The Civil Society which surrounds the beuke ... for example banking system, mortgages, local government, central government, tax, how the tax money is spent etc.etc.
Geology ...
Geography ... physical shape and how countries interconnect ... populations and population growth ... stage of development ( country by country or region by region )
Accounting/economics ...
..
We soon get on to "practical" subjects, such as metalwork, which is not really suited to be learnt solely from a book. So no more subjects needed ... better to restrict them to 10.
..
Then there is the x volumes concerning behaviour. (That is interpersonal relations)
General behaviour ... I have temporarily made Dale Carnegie's book, "How to win friends and influence people" canonical (until the proper tome can be written of course).
Husband <--> Wife ... I have temporarily made Nancy Van Pelt's book, "Highly Effective Marriage" canonical (until the proper tome can be written of course).
Employee <--> Employer ... There was a very good book by two guys with Dutch sounding names ... published at least 20 years ago ... I can not remember or find the book at the moment.
Child <--> Parent ... ???
..
Then there is a smallish book about First Aid
..
..
These canonical book are not set in stone however. There will be a mechanism for updating them.
Maybe this seems like a contradiction of terms ... a canonical body of work, yet mere mortals are allowed to change it. Well for some reason it is accepted by the beuke. Of course the scholars who update the work are very respected and there is a lot of conferring done before any update (also "any" bickering about what to update, is kept well out of the public eye).
The food complex
Many of the delights of life are found in the company of fellow human beings. Especially like-minded human beings. A lot of the customs of béu are designed especially to help people find that delight, to make them feel as if they are part of something bigger than any individual, to feel as if they are part of a community. The following is a tradition that has been designed with this in mind.
Every 3 seasons everybody is expected to get together with one other person and invite 2 strangers to dine (usually it will be to a home of one of the inviters). This is arranged by the local town hall. It is to facilitate meeting people that live near to you but that you do not know well. It is meant to be an enjoyable occasion for all involved. Only the 4 people should be present. Sometimes the hosts are siblings, sometimes a couple and sometimes friends. Usually the invitees do not know each other very well ... but sometimes they are a couple. Obviously some people are not into this sort of thing so they shouldn't be forced ... but they should be encouraged to be both hosts and guests.
The parish flags
béu country is divided into "parishes". These are rural communities of 10,000 -> 50,000 people (urban areas have are distinct from rural areas and have a very different administrative structure).
The parish boundaries follow geographical features, such as streams and ridges etc. However the shape of a parish approximates to a hexagon. In fact in a total featureless landscape it would be a hexagon.
The rim banners
Each parish has 6 banner-rows along its boundaries. A banner-row consists of 17 banners about 10 m apart. Each banner is made from a pole about the girth of an adults arm or leg. Each pole is about 7.5 m high and the top 5 m of the pole has an orange banner. The cloth of the banner is about 1/3 m wide. When about half the original cloth has been weathered away the cloth should be replaced, best to do an entire banner-row at on time. These banner-rows are normally placed in prominent positions. They can be anywhere along a boundary, but it isn't considered good to have the gap too small or too big between any neighbouring banner-rows.
In sparsely populated areas you get what is called a super-parish. They are around 10 times the size of a normal parish (but their population falls within the 10,000 -> 50,000 limit). These super-parishes have 2 barrier-rows per side(that is 12 in total), and each banner-row has 19 banners. All these banner dimensions are about 15% to 20% bigger than normal.
The outer banners
About 2/3 of the way out from the parish centre there are what are called the spoke banners arranged in banner-rows. There are 4 of these banner-rows and each has 11 banners. Again these are in prominent positions and/or well visible from roads. Again they should be quite spread out from each other.
Each of there banner-rows, instead of delineating the parish boundary, point towards the administrative centre of the parish, the toilido.
(For a super-parish there are 8 banner-rows with 13 banners each)
The inner banners
About 1/3 of the way out from the parish centre there are what are called the spoke banners arranged in banner-rows. There are 3 of these banner-rows and each has 5 banners. Below is what a banner looks like.
Again each of these banner-rows is pointing to the toilido.
(For a super-parish there are 5 banner-rows with 7 banners each)
The Way
"béu" specifies certain "best practices" for many many aspects of life. These "best practices" encompass many varied aspects of life.
For example the manner in which the 5 yearly festivals should be celebrated, what screw shapes and sizes should be used, how a man should treat his wife and a woman her husband, the periods of fasting and dietary restrictions that each individual should undertake.
These are just some examples of these "best practices". Actually each of these "best practices" are given a level of importance. There are 3 of these levels ... "recommended", "highly recommended" and "an absolute must".
These "best practices" are set out in various books. Theses books are held to be "canonical" or holy. However these writings are not set in stone, and there are mechanisms where by these books are updated and also new books can be added to the "special books".
Some people consider these "special books" to constitute a religion that has no god. However other people follow these "best practices" as just "cool things to do" and fit them in to their lives under another over-reaching belief system, such as Christianity or Islam (in much the same way that the early Buddhist adherent were free either to forget the old hindu gods or to continue to venerate them).
At the centre of this body of work defining the "best practices" there are 3 important concepts.
1) angwa The closest translation is "harmony"
When used in relation to motion it can be translated as "grace" When used in relation to design it can be translated as "elegance" When used in relation to text it can be translated as "poetry"
The adjective corresponding to angwa is angwai
angwa is considered getting the right balance between "order" and "chaos"
2) honda This can be translated as "order"
3) aska This can be translated as "chaos"
I suppose the above 2 concepts can be considered the Yin and Yang of "béu"
However the secondary concepts that are associated with Yin and Yang, for the most part, do not fit into the honda/aska dichotomy.
Just for ease of reference I have listed the secondary concept associated with Yin and Yang below.
| YIN | YANG |
| femininity | masculinity |
| soft | hard |
| yielding | solid |
| passive | aggressive or active |
| fast | slow |
| the moon | the sun |
| black | white |
| cold | hot |
| wet | dry |
| water | fire |
| nighttime | daytime |
| the earth | the sky |
| diffuse | focused |
However "order" and "chaos" are associated with other concepts. They have each 2 "under-concepts" ...
honda is associated with the colour "sky blue" suna and "tranquility"
aska is associated with the colour "orange" nela and "activity"
And each under-concept is associated with one under-under-concept
And the under.concepts, have in turn, underconcepts of their own ...
sky blue => the sky
orange => the sun
tranquility => dead
activity => alive
As well as no associations (for the most part) with the concepts linked to Yin and Yang ... also there is strictly no association with
good/bad, truth/falsehood, right/wrong, north/south, beauty/uglyness, positive/negative, right/left ... etc etc etc
Minor points pertaining to honda and aska
The "béu.symbol" is a orange disk with a sky blue background (the "béu.symbol" has both a simple and a complex representation)
This imagery continues into the way that machines are marked ...
To show that a machine is working, an orange disc is illuminated To show that a machine is switched off, a sky blue square is illuminated
The button to switch a machine on, is an orange disk with a black ring on it The button to switch a machine off, is a sky blue square with a black ring on it
( Of course the functions of indication and switching are often combined in one button )
For rocker switches ( such as light swithes ) the top part is square and you push this to switch off ... the bottom part is semicircular and you push this to switch on
By the way "red" is associated with danger and "green" is associated with safety So for example traffic lights are exactly the same ( including the orange in the middle )
By the way there are no other associations with colour ... you do not talk about a blackheart or a yellow streak etc etc ... kids are not split up according to pink or blue clothes, etc etc
The cremation oval
Actually called "sky gate/door" in béu.
Below is shown a typical cremation oval. Typically they are placed in a wilderness area, maybe near the parish boundary. The platform is about 1.5 m high with steps all around. It has the shape of an oval, usually with the two sharp curves cut off. In the two foci we have two objects.
On the east side we have the kilo. It is a structure about 1.7 m high (standing on a plinth about .2 m high), which is in the shape of the Gherkin in London. Metal bands can be seen on its surface. Multifaceted with each facet made of a pink glass. It has a silver ball on top, about 15 inch in diameter.
On the west side we have the ulgu. It is a structure about 1.7 m high (standing on a plinth about .2 m high), which is in the opposite shape from the Gherkin in London. Metal bands can be seen on its surface. Multifaceted with each facet made of a purple/mauve glass. It has a golden ball on top, about 15 inch in diameter (its top side is jet black).
Six poles (called jomo) can be seen on the oval. These must be changed to suit every cremation. After a cremation they are left as they are, until the next cremation.
I have named them NM (north middle), NW (north west), SW (south west), SM (south middle), SE (south east) and NE (north east).
These jomo can have 1 of 4 types of head (shown below). From L => R, I have named these the empty head, single head, double head and multiple head.
A jomo is about 5 m high. The second and third tops are about 1.3 m high. The diameter of the 4th top is 2.1 m although on occasions this must be increased.
The jomo are made of varnished wood and are square in cross-section, 25 cm at the bottom, narrowing to 21 cm at the top. The 2 middle tops (see below) can be constructed from anything. However they should look solid and all faces should glow in the dark (not necessarily at the edges). The single and double heads gradually tapper to a point. They are square in cross-section, all the way to the point.
Basically the choice of head reflects the descendants that the deceased left behind. If the deceased had no living descendants at the time of death, then all the jomo have empty heads. This is a greyish/white sphere.
If the deceased has living descendants then the NM jomo will have a single head. This head represents the oldest child (legally recognised child). If the first born was male, this head will be orientated out of the oval, if female into the oval.
The second oldest child is also represented by a single head. If this child was male, the next empty jomo in a clockwise direction from the NM one receives a single head. If this child was female, the next empty jomo in a anti-clockwise direction thom the NM one receives a single head.
And so you do with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth child . If there are only six children, then yellow bunting is drapped from the "elbow" of the head representing the six child. If this child was female, yellow bunting is drapped from the "elbow" of the head, if this child was male blue bunting is draped.
If there were seven children, then the last head placed should be a double head. Yellow or blue bunting being drapped from the "elbows" depending upon the sex of the last two children born.
If there were eight or more children born to the deceased, then the last head placed should be a multiple head. Yellow or blue bunting being drapped equip-distantly around the rim of the head to represent the sex of these children. In exceptional circumstances (when many, many children produced), the diameter of the multiple head has to be enlarged.
If any of these children have predeceased the deceased, then red bunting is draped from the "elbow" of the head representing them (if the elbow already has another colour of bunting, then the red bunting is intermixed with the yellow or blue bunting).
So now we have sorted out what heads we want and we have given the NM jomo head an orientation.
Now we give the other single heads an orientation (the double head is always orientated, so that you can see it best from where the deceased's head is). The multiple head has no orientation : it can spin.
The orientation of the other single heads depend upon the difference between the birthday of the first child and the child represented by that jomo. Here are two example to explain the system ...
1) The second oldest child is male. His birthday is exactly 4 months after the first born's. His head will be orientated 150 degrees anti-clockwise with respect to the first born's.
2) The tird oldest child is female. Her birthday is exactly 1 month after the first born's. Her head will be orientated 30 degrees clockwise with respect to the first born's. Note that male is anti-clockwise and female is clockwise.
Now we come to the tilting of the jomo. All jomo with a single head are tilted. The maximum tilt (that is the maximum deviation from the vertical is 30 degrees.
To work out the tilt for every jomo we first must work out the "Index" for the deceased. The index is some amount between 0 and 1. The index is got from the graph above. The horizontal axis is age and the high of the plotted line at the age in which the deceased died, determines his index.
The plotted line is can be plotted (by using a certain formula) when A, B, C and D are known. A is a constant (minus 9 months). B and C and D can be determined from the last 12 years of parish records. (By the way there are two graphs, one for each sex. And A and B and C are sex dependant.
Assuming the deceased is a male ...
B = the average age over the past 12 years in which the boys(young men) "mastered the laws".
C = the average age over the past 12 years in which the males married plus 18 years.
D = the average age of death for males over the past 12 years. No deaths that occur before "C", contribute to this average.
If the deceased is female, we determine our graph using the same formula, but now we have ...
B = the average age over the past 12 years in which the girls(young women) "mastered the laws".
C = the average age over the past 12 years in which the females married plus 30 years.
D = the average age of death for females over the past 12 years. No deaths that occur before "C", contribute to this average.
OK so now we have worked out the index for the deceased. Now each post with a single head is assigned a random number between 0 and 1.
The tilt of a post = Index x Random number x 30 degrees.
So this tilt is applied to the relevant post. The tilt follows the orientation of the head.
As can be imagined, every cremation involves a bit of work to have all the jomo at the correct orientation and tilt.
The followers of the béu-way believe that it is their duty to the ones they interact with, to assure that these "around-ones" are free from pain, free from want, and free from a spoilt/marrd heart. When one is asleep you are free from these things. Also in death ... hence béu-way followers do not believe that it should be a time of grief when somebody close to you dies.
The sky garden
After the body has been cremated, the ashes are put in a box and interred in the "sky garden". The sky garden takes the form of many wide "walkways" dug in the ground. From above it looks like a maze. The "ash boxes" are interred in either side of the walkways. There are four rows of these "ash boxes" deposited in each side.
A sky garden is ideally built on a gentle slope (in the Northern hemisphere, preferably south-facing to get the sun). It can be either built up from the ground or excavated into the earth.
The walkways are arranged in a sort of maze, so as to densely cover a piece of ground.
Although not absolutely necessary, most sky gardens have water running through them.
Below is a cut-away of a typical walkway. The bit in the centre (called "stream-work" in béu) has seats built into it. And also small flower beds. The inter-walkway walls support miniature trees or bushes. There is good drainage under the walkway. Mosses and small plants grow on the vertical surfaces. All in all, a sky garden is a very beautiful place, a place that should induce peace of mind to the people that wander its walkways or sit and ponder life.
The trick in designing a sky garden is too get the minimum slope needed to make this water flow. Ideally it should flow through all the walkways (not always possible). This is why a gentle slope is the best place to locate a sky garden.
The sky gardens are well looked after. They are an ideal place to visit if you want a bit of peace and quiet.
Over the hole in which the ash boxes are interred is placed a nice granite plaque with details of the life of the deceased. An image of the deceased at their prime is included. (With modern technology, people are now making in possible for visitors to see a multimedia presentation about the life of the deceased, this can be activated from a sensor in the plaque).
The parish hall
Below is shown the plan of the parish hall. This is the administrative centre of the parish and the place where the banner-rows point to.
The red shape at the top of the plan is the water-fountain. It must have a red tiled roof. It is to provide clean drinking water to passers by and also a sheltered place to rest. It can take a variety of forms. Some are made very fancy and have a small "hanging garden" along their centre surrounded with pools filled with beautiful fish. There must be fresh water flowing, either continuous or on demand. Also there must be seating. There is also a small banner-row of 3 banners ... in line with the "water-hut" and on the side away from the toilido.
There is often a tree lined avenue leading up to the front entrance of the toilido. In hot countries the trees are usually some sort of shade tree. In colder countries, trees with a well defined, uniform shape are favoured ... poplars ?? The two rows of trees diverge from each other as the road passes the row of three banners. They open up to encompass the "poster-huts" but don't extend beyond them.
The word toilido literally means "building of the books". It actually only refers to the hexagonal building (not the centre tower). The whole complex is actually called "centre station".
Usually 2 or 3 other types of tree are planted around the "centre station" (maybe 5 or 6 trees in all). This makes every toilido unique.
The whole complex provides the following services ...
1) A clocktower
2) Public toilets
3) A post office
4) A library
5) Archives for public records
6) A place for the parish council to meet
7) Offices for the parish council members
The black part of the toilido is the main entrance.
You will notice to "huts" with half their roof red and half black. These are the "poster huts". These are sheltered billboards for posting important information. The red side is for official notices (that is for what the parish officers or the central government think should be posted). On the black side the general public can post whatever it wants. New notices are posted on the small "poster hut". After 9 days they are transferred to the larger "poster huts". In béu the adjective "red" can be used to refer to something pertaining to the government, and the adjective "black" to refer to something non-government.
The orange part of the toilido is a stage, or actually the roof over the stage. And the area in front of this stage is a fairly large green where people gather to see the various shows that are put on. There are various conserts put on by the parish members at regular times every year. Also occasionally you get wondering groups of "players" who put on a show.
Above is how the toilido looks from street level (the "hut" to the left is the "water hut").
The entrance has about 1.3 m of steps to climb. There are three arches at every entrance. The central one being slightly higher than the other two.
(I have probably drawn the building too high in the street level view). Usually tall stain glass windows on 4 sides of the toilido. There is always at least 2 storeys within the main part of the building, sometimes more. Also usually there is a separate storey in the roof (the triangular shapes seen on the plan view, are actually windows in the roof to provide light to this storey. These windows look onto the central courtyard.)
The centre of the hexagon has a pleasing garden. In the very centre is the base of the "clock tower".
The 2 kidney shaped building are public toilets. The one on the right for the use of men, the one on the left for the use of women.
Tables and chair for setting out for the various concerts are also kept in these buildings. These toilets are kept meticulously clean. In fact every parishioner must do a certain amount of duty at the toilets every year ... keeping them clean. No fit adult is exempt from this duty.
There is a single banner just outside each of these buildings ... on the opposite side from the stage.
There are similar roof-colouring rules for other government buildings. Namely the schools have are gray-roofed and the hospitals are dark blue-roofed.
Just as every child (person that has not yet mastered the laws) has his "enjoyment day" (i.e. his birthday) so every parish has its enjoyment day. Every parish has a different enjoyment day and people frequently visit neighbouring parishes to experience the neighbouring parishes enjoyment day. In the enjoyment day there is a parade and people from different organisations and neighbourhood enter "troops" into this parade. Everybody in a troop is flamboyantly and colourfully dressed. Also the pull bizarrely decorated wagons. Usually each troop picks a different theme every year so the dresses and the moves they perform reflect this theme. A prize is usually given to what is judged the best troop, but most people do not take that too seriously. They are just out to enjoy themselves.
At night there is tasty and abundant food available from tents that have been put up on the village green. The food is provided free of charge by the parish.
The town clock
Every town has a clocktower and the clocktower has 4 faces, which are aligned with the cardinal directions. The street pattern is also so aligned : that is the four biggest streets radiate out from the clock in the cardinal directions.
Each face displaying a clock similar to the one below.
The above figure shows the time at exactly 6 in the morning. You notice that the main (hour hand) hand is pointing to the right : it starts from the horizontal. This hand sweeps out one revolution in 24 hours and it moves anti-clockwise
Notice that secondary (minute hand) starts from the vertical and sweeps out a revolution in 2 of our hours. It moves clockwise. And actually when it passes the main hand, there is a clever mechanism to stop it being hidden. It stops 3.75 minutes at one side of the main hand, and then moves directly (2 steps) to the other side of the main hand and stops there for 3.75 minutes. After that it does a step and waits 2.5 minutes, etc. etc. ... until it encounters the main hand again.
The red and the black arms do not move continuously but move in steps. The primary arm moves 3.75 degrees every 15 minutes, and the secondary arm moves 7.5 degrees every 2.5 minutes.
The clocktower is surmounted by a green conic roof (actually not really conic ... the roof slope decreases as you get nearer the bottom). Lighting from under the roof could be provided for each face. Either that or the faces could be illuminated from within at night. The faces are not exactly vertical but the top slightly overhangs the bottom.
There is never any numbering on the face.
The clock also emits sounds. Every 2 of our hours the clock makes a deep "boing" which reverberates for some time. Also from 6 in the morning to 6 at night, the clock emits a "boing" every 30 of our minutes. The first "boing" has no accompaniment. However the second "boing" is followed (well actually when the "boing" is only .67 % dissipated) by a "sharper" sound that dies down a lot quicker : "teen". The third "boing" has 2 "teen"s 0.72 seconds apart. The fourth has 3 "teen"s. The fifth one is back to the single "boing" and so it continues thru the day.
The secondary hand and the 36 diamonds should be ...
East face => white or even better, silver
North face => light blue
West face => green
South face => dark blue
(The drawing is a bit out in this respect).
The time of day
dé = day
The béu day begins at sunrise. 6 o'clock in the morning is called cuaju
The time of day is counted from cuaju. 24 hours is considered one unit. 8 o'clock in the morning would be called ajai (normally just called ajai, but cúa ajai or ajai yanfa might also be heard sometimes).
| 6 o'clock in the morning | cuaju |
| 8 o'clock in the morning | ajai |
| 10 o'clock in the morning | ufai |
| midday | ibai |
| 2 o'clock in the afternoon | agai |
| 4 o'clock in the afternoon | idai |
| 6 o'clock in the evening | ulai |
| 8 o'clock in the evening | icai |
| 10 o'clock at night | ezai |
| midnight | okai |
| 2 o'clock in the morning | apai |
| 4 o'clock in the morning | atai |
Just for example, let us now consider the time between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.
16:00 would be idai : 16:10 would be idaijau : 16:20 would be idaifau .... all the way up to .... 17:50 which would be idaitau
Now all these names have in common the element idai, hence the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock is called idaia (the plural of idai). This is exactly the same as us calling the period from 1960 -> 1969, "the sixties".
The perion from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the morning is called cuajua. This is a back formation. People noticed that the two hour period after the point in time ajai was called ajaia(etc. etc.) and so felt that the two hour period after the point in time cuaju should be called cuajua. By the way, all points of time between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. MUST have an initial cuaju. For example "ten past six in the morning" would be cuaju ajau, "twenty past six" would be cuaju afau and so on.
If something happened in the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, it would be said to have happened idaia.pi
Usually you talk about points of time rather than periods of time. If you arrange to meet somebody at 2 o'clock morning, you would meet them apaiʔe.
But we refer to periods of time occasionally. If some action continued for 20 minutes, it will have continued nàn ufau, for 2 hours : nàn ajai (nàn means "a long time")
In English we divide the day up into hours, minutes and seconds. In béu they only have the yanfa. The yanfa is equivalent to 5 seconds. We would translate "moment" as in "just a moment" as yanfa also.
Index
- Introduction to Béu
- Béu : Chapter 1 : The Sounds
- Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun
- Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb
- Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective
- Béu : Chapter 5 : Questions
- Béu : Chapter 6 : Derivations
- Béu : Chapter 7 : Way of Life 1
- Béu : Chapter 8 : Way of life 2
- Béu : Chapter 9 : Word Building
- Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
- Béu : Discarded Stuff
- A statistical explanation for the counter-factual/past-tense conflation in conditional sentences
