Refsing Kirsten writes:
"There seems to be no fixed beginning or end of a pá - it may stretch from one summer to the next or from one winter to the next, as long as it includes one occurence of each of the four seasons. The word for 'spring', páykar, contains the syllable pá, which may inspire some speculations as to whether the beginning of a pá is placed there." The Ainu Concept of Time as Expressed Through Language // European Studies on Ainu Language and Culture, 1993, p. 100
Indeed, word paykar can be transparently devided into three morphemes:
pa - "year"
i-kar - "do something intensively"
i - prefix intensificator,
kar - "to make", "to create".
(The others words marking four season in Ainu language don't contain morphemes with the meaning of ''year'': "winter" - mata, "summer" - sak, "fall" - cuk.)
All these data, anyhow, tell us that traditional ancient Ainu new year feast took place in spring. But when exactly in spring? Since ancient Ainu did not practise agriculture they might had not a fixed day of New Year feast. But it can be supposed that this date was Vernal equinox as far as Vernal equinox is the most notable date of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (Ainu always have been living in Northern Henisphere). Thus we can state that traditional ancient Ainu New Year feast could took place in the date of Vernal equinox.
In this year paikar comes on March 20, 5:14.
Pirka paikar utar!
