Jutean calendar

The Jutean calendar is a lunisolar calendar traditionally used by Coastal and some River Juteans and administratively used in the entire confederation of Jute. It is based around the growth cycle of jute plants, their most important crop.

The exact calendar differs from community to community, not just because the growth cycle differs from region to region, but also because each community has their own set of holidays based on the local environment, economy and the members of the community.

Overview

The passing of the days was originally scratched into wooden sticks, kept either at home or displayed in public, and on them grouped together into moon cycles (oone) lasting either 29 or 30 days, with 12 a year. This leaves 11 days missing for a full solar year (discounting leap days), which marked the harvest of jute plants, the work to process them into fibers and other raw materials and, at the end, the harvest festival.

Seasons

Harvest

The jute harvest festivals would double as new year celebrations, and with the harvest happening between what is according to the common calendar February-May depending on rainfall and the type of soil, the year begins in what would be late winter or spring in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

Restrained cycle

The somber, restrained cycle or “lean” cycle follows the harvest and consists of the first seven months of the new year (March-September to June-December in the common year), coinciding either with the drier season (which starts in June) or half of the wetter and half of the drier season. During this time the jute fields are used for other crops (crop rotation) as well as for other agriculture in general. During this time days dedicated to the wilderness and commemorating the darker and more difficult parts of life such as death, disability or disease mark the calendar, as during the time after the festival and before the second harvest there is often less food available, and therefore hardship can be more common.

Growth cycle

The restrained cycle is followed by the growth cycle. Depending on the climate and local environment, it starts up to 2 months before the start of the rainier season and continues until its beginning, (i.e. between October and December, according to the common calendar), and begins with the sowing of seeds for the year. The next four months are dedicated above all to weeding, thinning, mulching and intercropping (placing another crop right next to the jute plant), as well as minor celebrations for every member of the community, sometimes twice.

Holidays

Harvest festival

The biggest and most important festival of Coastal Juteans is the jute harvesting festival, marking the highlight of the year at the end of the rainier season during which the growth cycle of the jute plant occurs. It is hence traditionally regarded as forming the end of the year. While it is celebrated in some form in all Coastal Jutean communities, it is only in the communities of the countryside where the original traditions are still largely upheld.

Similar to many other harvest festivals, the jute harvest festival celebrates the bounty that nature has provided the locals with after many weeks of hard work of harvesting, retting (submerging fibers in water to loosen them), removing the fiber from the stalk and finally washing and drying the fibers. The festival takes place once these steps are completed and the jute fiber is ready to use.

Typically, soup made from jute leaves is served and new and old kinds of items made from the recently harvested jute fiber are produced, showcased and exchanged as gifts together during those days. Other jute handicraft items such as string figures, colored ribbons, smaller rugs and many other objects made from jute fiber decorate houses and public spaces. There is often much music, singing, dancing together, although the kind of songs and dances can vary a lot from community to community and be for example cheerful, melancholic or contemplative.

Urban festivals are notably different. As there is no harvesting in towns, jute is brought in from other communities and then food and handicrafts are prepared according to traditions or local preferences. The latter are often influenced by local Jutean Balak and Nevirojutean communities, or other overseas influences.

After the festival, which can last up to a week, is over, the new ideas and items produced during it are put to use to help with work and life and serve as a reminder that the next festival is coming.

Minor holidays

Before the harvest festival, the first 120 days of the jute growth cycle (regardless of when it begins) have each a name associated with them, which can e.g. be a fruit (such as a mango), an inhabited, cultivated or otherwise used environmental feature (like a beach, or a part of a forest used to maintain forest gardens) or a profession (such as carpenter) associated, and people who have the name or work in a profession related to what the name refers are allowed to celebrate it the way people celebrate a birthday. These days are called a person’s holiday, or simply “their day”.

However, these holidays are relatively minor, more restrained celebrations, with no large meals or elaborate gift-giving ceremonies as during the harvest festival. People who carry the name of the day instead get treated to their favorite dish at home by their family or a treat at work by colleagues (such as a pancake cake), have a song dedicated to them, and maybe get some personalized small gift that represents the familial, friendship or cooperative relationship they have with the gift-giver, which can be a sentimental or practical gift.

Then, until the harvest begins in earnest, preparations are made for it, storage rooms and workshops are set up, tools are if necessary acquired, checked and maintenance performed. On the other side, the harvest festival preparations begin, by beautifying gardens and houses. This period lasts up to a month, but can also be much shorter, and depending on when sowing took place it would take place any time between February to April.

After that, the labor-intensive and hard work of harvesting and processing of the jute fibers (and other parts of the plant) begins, the end of which is marked by the harvest festival, and the year ends and begins anew.