Orientalist and academician Alexander Samoilovich in 1916 described his conversation with the inhabitants of the village of Otuz near Kezlev (this village has already disappeared, it was located within the borders of the Black Sea district).
One of the locals – Haji Ali Effendi – told the scientist that the Crimean Tatars are counting years in a 12-year-old animal cycle. “The year of the animal cycle begins in the month of the zodiac Aries (“ Hamel ”), when the cranes arrive, that is, in March,” writes Samoilovich. “Depending on the properties of the animals whose names are used to name the years, the latter are divided into happy, unhappy and average, and the influence of years extends to both people and animals.” The best and happiest year was the year of the sheep (“koyun”), followed by the years of the horse (“yylki”), snake (“yylan”), cow (“sygyr”). Unhappy ones were years of the mouse ( “sychan”), rabbit ( “tavshan” or “koyan”), and the medium one is the Year of the Tiger.
