Oko Wanci

Monday, Feb 22 to Sunday, Feb 28, 2010: high 49, low 4

Happy new [Wingsprings] year. This is the beginning of year two of this Wingsprings oko iyawapi. The Wingsprings year begins when the sun rises on axis with the house and Bear Creek Butte, the small pointed peak on the horizon in the photo above. How can we tell when the sun rises on that axis? Well, one way would be to stand on the Butte and looking eastward watch for when the sun rose directly in line with the house. But the Butte is about two and a half miles from the house, and the climb to its top is somewhat steep, so that method of ascertaining the alignment is not very practical.

The method we use doesn’t require any driving or climbing. Atop the house is a small room called the cockpit. It has its own exterior walls and a hipped roof. Its shadow, therefore, resembles an arrow. At sunrise, this shadow is cast onto the east-facing slope of the land just on the other side of the natural springs west of the house. When the arrow-shaped shadow points directly to the Butte, that is when the sun has risen in precise alignment with the house and the Butte.

In the photo below, taken from inside the house and slightly to the north of the Butte-House-Sunrise axis, you can see the Butte on the distant horizon. The reason it is taken off-axis is because if the photo was taken on axis, the Butte would be centered behind and obscured by the mullion of the angled window. You can also see that the arrow-shaped shadow of the cockpit is pointing to the north [or to the right] of the Butte. This indicates that the sun has risen south of the axis. The photo was taken yesterday, February 27.

Today most likely the sunrise would be on axis with the house and the Butte. But it has been overcast all day so there was no shadow cast at sunrise to verify the alignment. Still, we will claim that today, February 28, is the Spring Wingsprings sunrise day. Coincidentally, last night was a full moon. I wish the sky had been clear this morning so we could see how close to the Butte it sat.