I just read a really interesting piece on what life was like "before time"...before the average person had calenders and clocks. It said that in the 11th cent. and earlier most people would not have known their birthday or even in many cases how old they were. The would not know what year it was (they would keep track of that by the year of the reign of their king: "In the fifth year of King John") That's kind of jaw-dropping to realize; we are so wrapped up in counting and organizing time now. Maybe it would be nice to not know if I'm 57 or 37?
I bet that "nature signs" were essentially important then; you'd have to watch the sky and the world around you to know for sure when it was safe to plant crops or when certain fruits would be ripe, etc.
