Cow Clock - Ushidokei

… The semantic unit of time in folk societies is a period of concrete activity or labor, and units with only quantitative meanings (such as seconds, minutes, and hours) that are dominant in modern societies are not prominent. The Nuer people, a pastoral people of East Africa, use a clock that indicates the passage of time in a day and refers to the time of events not as a quantified clock or the position of the sun, but as a "cow clock" that consists of a series of pastoral tasks such as taking the cows out of the barn - milking - letting the cows graze - milking the goats and sheep - cleaning the barn - putting the cows back in the barn. Many calendars in folk societies are also made up of task units, such as agricultural calendars, and some do not have quantitative dates. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to the "cow clock" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　民俗社会の時間の意味単位は，具体的活動や労働の一区切りを意味内容としており，近代社会において支配的な数量的意味しかもたぬ単位(秒，分，時間など)は顕著でない。東アフリカの牧畜民ヌエル族では，一日の時間の経過を示しできごとの時刻を参照する時計は，数量化された時計や太陽の位置ではなく，牛舎から牛を出す―搾乳―牛の放牧―ヤギや羊の搾乳―牛舎の掃除―牛を牛舎に戻す，などの一連の牧畜作業の区切りからなる〈牛時計〉であった。また民俗社会の暦の多くも，農事暦のように作業単位からなり，数量的な日付をもたぬ暦もある。…

※「牛時計」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報