Egeriac Calendar
The Egeriac Calendar is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly in the Federal Republic Of Notzel for dating.
Components
Day and hours
Traditional Egeriac timekeeping practices required the use of unequal time units: 12 daytime units from local sunrise to local sunset, and 12 night-time units from sunset to sunrise. The 12 daytime units and the 12 night-time units are further divided into two subgroups for the sake of naming. A day begins and ends at the midnight.
The practices of determining the length of daytime hours and night-time hours based on sunrise and sunset was abandoned in the 19th century when clocks became widespread and the need of standardized units of time became important due to the industrialization of Notzel.
The names of days are named after the lunar phase. Below is the name of each day in a month:
Day | Name | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Day 1 | nemeth holon | new moon |
Day 2 | nemeth tanol diyth motzor | near upper brow moon |
Day 3 | nemeth tanol diyth non | anterior upper brow moon |
Day 4 | nemeth tanol diyth | upper brow moon |
Day 5 | nemeth tanol diyth nof | posterior upper brow moon |
Day 6 | nemeth om diyth motzor | near upper half moon |
Day 7 | nemeth om diyth non | anterior upper half moon |
Day 8 | nemeth om diyth | upper half moon |
Day 9 | nemeth om diyth nof | posterior upper half moon |
Day 10 | nemeth poltod non | anterior growing moon |
Day 11 | nemeth poltod | growing moon |
Day 12 | nemeth poltod nof | posterior growing moon |
Day 13 | nemeth molom motzor | near full moon |
Day 14 | nemeth molom non | anteriorfull moon |
Day 15 | nemeth molom | full moon |
Day 16 | nemeth molom nof | posterior full moon |
Day 17 | nemeth kombod motzor | near decreasing moon |
Day 18 | nemeth kombod non | anterior decreasing moon |
Day 19 | nemeth kombod | decreasing moon |
Day 20 | nemeth kombod nof | posterior decreasing moon |
Day 21 | nemeth om diyv non | anterior lower half moon |
Day 22 | nemeth om diyv | lower half moon |
Day 23 | nemeth om diyv nof | posterior lower half moon |
Day 24 | nemeth tanol diyv motzor | near lower brow moon |
Day 25 | nemeth tanol diyv non | anterior lower brow moon |
Day 26 | nemeth tanol diyv | lower brow moon |
Day 27 | nemeth tanol diyv nof | posterior lower brow moon |
Day 28 | nemeth zogom motzor | near hollow moon |
Day 29 | nemeth zogom | hollow moon |
Day 30 | nemeth zogom nof | posterior hollow moon |
Weeks
In general, the Egeriac week is a cycle of seven days, but there are several circumstances where there are 8 days in a week. 52 weeks form a cycle called nidruth(plural nidruyoth). In most years, a nidruth has 365 days, but one out of four nidruyouth has 366 days, that is, the length of nidruyoth corresponds to the length of a solar year, and the "nidruth" with 366 days is called nidruth zodon(literally "long nidruth")
The last week of every "nidruth" has 8 days; besides, the 26th week of a "nidruth zodon" also has 8 days. The 8th day of a week is inserted between "Oxxi Komos" and "Oxxi Per" to make sure that the day for every winter solstice is Oxxi Gnul.
Below is the name of each day in a week:
Name in Egeriac | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
1st day | Oxxi Gnul | Day of Beginning | |
2nd day | Oxxi Nov | Day of Ground | |
3rd day | Oxxi Mer | Day of Water | |
4th day | Ox Komos | Middle Day | The name is changed to "Ox han heKomos" in weeks with 8 days |
Ox han heKomos | Day before the middle | only used in weeks with 8 days | |
8th day | Oxxi haf heKomos | Day after the middle | only used in weeks with 8 days |
5th day | Oxxi Per | Day of Fire | |
6th day | Oxxi Pech | Day of Air | |
7th day | Oxxi Kun | Day of End |
Usually Oxxi Kun is the rest day in Notzel, traditionally it was also they day for worshipping Hosha.
Months
The mean period of the lunar month (precisely, the synodic month) is very close to 29.5 days. Accordingly, the basic Egeriac calendar year is one of twelve lunar months alternating between 29 and 30 days:
Egeriac Month | Length | Gregorian | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
Teth | 30 | Sep–Oct | Head, first |
Veder | 29 | Oct–Nov | Flower |
Mogdath | 30 | Nov–Dec | Joy |
Daxtoch | 29 | Dec–Jan | Harvest |
Meif | 30 | Jan–Feb | Heat |
Deven | 29 | Feb–Mar | Fruit |
Bod | 30 | Mar–Apr | Wood |
Hem | 29 | Apr–May | Fog |
Gmuch | 30 | May–Jun | Frost |
Remech | 29/30 | Jun–Jul | Snow |
Mrich | 30/29 | Jul–Aug | Rain |
Vanol | 29 | Aug–Sep | Tail, end |
In leap years an additional month, Deven Nannan (30 days) is added after Shevat, while the regular Adar is referred to as Deven Napan.
Years
The years are not recorded in numbers, but in terms of 76-year cycles. From the 4th century onwards, we observe the usage of 76-year cycles. The 76-year cycle is known as kamog cycle and was introduced in 355 CE, when the first united Egeriac republic was formed. The first year of the first kamog started in 355 CE. The cycles were counted by ordinal numbers, but the years within the cycles were never counted but referred to by special names. Within each cycle, the name of the year is determined by the combination of the four traditional elements(nov "Ground", mer "Water", per "Fire" and pech "Air") and the 19 zodiac signs.
The element-animal designations recur in cycles of 76 years, starting with a ground rat(Egeriac: nov magan) year. These large cycles are numbered, the first cycle starting in 355 CE. Therefore, 431 CE roughly corresponds to the ground rat year of the 2nd cycle(Egeriac: he-gezzi nov magan he-kamog avorren). This practice of recording years is comparable to the way of naming years in the Tibetan calendar.
The 19 Zodiac Signs
The following are the twelve zodiac signs in order:
Sign | English meaning |
---|---|
magan | mouse/rat |
zonev | sorghum |
meych | knife |
mamar | elephant |
tzefem | hemp |
nofer | stove |
mathal | sheep/goat/antelope |
ketzel | onion |
demed | well |
kemed | field |
tzof | bird |
mezech | garlic |
num | house |
gey | horse |
keres | spinach |
zodel | bed |
qen | dog |
stoma | corn |
kuwl | axe |
New year
Leap years
The Egeriac calendar is based on the Metonic cycle of 19 years, of which 12 are common (non-leap) years of 12 months and 7 are leap years of 13 months. To determine whether a Egeriac year is a leap year, one must find its position in the 19-year Metonic cycle. Within a metonic cycle, there is one leap year for every three years, and there are two leap years for every 5 years.
However, the Metonic cycle is just a rough rule, actual observations may change the positioning of leap years, creating further exceptions. The actual position of the leap year is determined by the government.