Sefdaanian ethnography Ch. 2, Time

Written history

• The Loquent Peoples have no written accounts of historical facts. There is, however, a detailed mythology of their creation which will be related in Chapter 7, Faith.

Calendar (ą̀mṙënemsémos)

• The Sefdaanian calendar was devised by Arkanus, the archimage of astronomy. Both the solar cycle and the lunar cycle are used in the ancient original calendar, but there is no attempt to reconcile the two. The solar cycle is used to number the months and mark the solar festivals and to establish dates, whereas the lunar cycle is used exclusively for marking the full moon celebrations.

1. The Solar Cycle (sųlmódas)

• The solar year begins at the winter solstice and must begin on ilmą́mṙas. Each of the twelve months (záltas, ‘twelfth’) consists of five six-day weeks. As this gives a total of only 360 days, an intercalary week of five days is added after the twelfth month. In a leap year this intercalary week has six days.
• The solar year is divided into six seasons (ȝę́ṙas), each consisting of two periods of approximately 45 days. These ȝęṙáes begin every 30° on the ecliptic.
• Eight celebrations are held in conjunction with the solar year, four quarter days and four cross-quarter days:

Celebration	Senjecas	Date	Degree	Days
Winter solstice	ȝ̇emsúĸas	12/22	0°	43↓
Spring festival	ṁesṙëtúȝnos	2/2	45°	45↓
Vernal equinox	ṁèsṙëpáṙas	3/20	90°	45↓
Early summer festival	nèngëtúȝnos	5/5	135°	47↓
Autumn festival	òsnëtúȝnos	8/6	225°	46↓
Winter equinox	tèlmëpáṙas	9/23	270°	43↓
Early winter festival	tèlṁëtúȝnos	11/5	315°	46↓

• The dates of these cross-quarter days do not coincide with those of the contemporary festivals.

2. The Seasons (ȝęṙáes)

• There are six seasons in the Sefdaanian year. Their names with a general description follow. The names in parentheses are those used when only four seasons are recognized.

Season	Senjecas	Dates	Description
(winter)	ȝ̇émas	11/22-1/19	cold to freezing; heavy snow, sometimes sleet or rain; heavy cloud cover most of the time.
(spring)	ṁésnas	1/20-3/20	rising temperature with melting of ice and snow; frequent and heavy rain with heavy cloud cover; plants begin to flower, trees to leaf.
	néngas	3/21-5/20	temperature continues to rise; ground begins to dry out; plants are in full bloom and leaf; increased sun and wind; warm days and cool nights.
(summer)	lę́tas	5/21-7/22	hot and dry; rains infrequently with little cloud cover; grass turns brown.
(autumn)	ósnas	7/23-9/22	cooler; clouds in morning and evening often with light rain; leaves begin to change color; crops ready to harvest.
	télṁas	9/23-11/21	temperature continues to fall; leaves begin to fall; increasing rainfall; crisp nights with frost in the morning.

3. The Months (zaltáes)

Twelve months of the year

Number	Name	Meaning	Dates	?
1	póm̌antas	struggling through snow	12/22-1/19	ȝ̇emĸę́ṙĸ̌as
2	sísmantas	snow melting	1/20-2/18	ṁesnéqṙas
3	pį́tantas	sap tapping	2/19-3/20	ṁesnëĸę́ṙĸ̌as
4	cį́nantas	grass sprouting	3/21-4/19	nengéqṙas
5	ánðantas	flower blooming	4/20-5/20	nengëĸę́ṙĸ̌as
6	endéqṙantas	heat beginning	5/21-6/20	lętéqṙas
7	cą́ṙantas	antler growing	6/21-7/22	lęþĸę́ṙĸ̌as
8	ðénantas	fruit producing	7/23-8/22	osnéqṙas
9	smą́gantas	feather molting	8/23-9/22	osnëĸę́ṙĸ̌as
10	ǫ́gantas	berry picking	9/23-10/22	telṁéqṙas
11	ǧázdantas	leaf falling	10/23-11/21	telṁëĸę́ṙĸ̌as
12	úqṙantas	becoming cold	11/22-12/21	ȝ̇eméqṙas

4. System of Dating (?)

• The days of the months are numbered using the cardinal number with the name of the month in the locative case. Thus, úqṙantas 25th would be uqṙantás lu tam.
• The years are numbered according to their order in the era or eon. The current era is called the present era and dates from the winter solstice of 10,598 B.C. Thus the present year dated from 22 December 2011 is N.M. 12,610. N.M. stands for nų́na mezdįtás, 'of the present era.'

5. The Zodiac (tasmódos)

• The zodiac is the annual cycle of the sun around the ecliptic. The Ethrans saw in the star arrangements fanciful pictures of the animals (mammals) that were native to Sefdaania, arranged in a more or less equal distribution around the ecliptic. They divided the ecliptic into twelve domains (ṙéƶos) of 30° each.

Degree	Domain ṙéƶos	Date
0°	otter/úðṙes	12/22
30°	red deer/lą́nes	1/20
60°	bear/ɔ́þces	2/19
90°	bison/ṁisóntes	3/21
120°	lynx/lúnges	4/20
150°	badger/váṙĸes	5/21
180°	camel/sų́bes	6/21
210°	beaver/vévṙes	7/23
240°	lion/sínqes	8/29
270°	ibex/qaídes	9/23
300°	seal/sélĸes	10/23
330°	rabbit/b̧éṁnes	11/22

• By the Sefdaanian reckoning, the starting point of the ecliptic is at the winter solstice which is marked 0°, although the vernal equinox is at 0° by contemporary reckoning.

6. The Sexagenary Cycle (?)

• By combining the signs of the zodiac with the names of the five visible planets, a sexagenary cycle was created which is also used extensively in dating events.

7. The Week (sefą́mṙas)

• After the creation of all six of the Loquent Peoples, the days of the week (which were formerly simply numbered) were given the names of the six avatars of God worshipped by each people, in the order of the creation of each people.
• When a seventh day is needed for the contemporary calendar, it is named ìlmṁespéṙas, Ilmus’ eve.

ilmą́mṙas Ilmus’ day Ethrans Sunday p̌ą̀seną́mṙas Pwaasenus’ day Pyrans Monday nęṙą́mṙas Neerus’ day Hydorans Tuesday tàṙoną́mṙas Taronus’ day Humans Wednesday pèṙĸuną́mṙas Perkunus’ day Xylans Thursday ȝ̇àlsǫsą́mṙas Halsoosus’ day Lithans Friday ìlmṁespéṙas Saturday

8. The Day (ą́mṙas)

• All time and calendar references are based on a duodecimal system. The day is divided into 24 sections known as tenáes. The day begins at sunrise (sųlm̧ácas). In modern times this is considered to be 6:00 a.m. Each of the hours is named for an animal, as follows:

1st hour (6:00 a.m.) hoopoe òpofténas 2nd hour moose òlcëténas 3rd hour aurochs tàuṙténas 4th hour stork gèṙïténas 5th hour swan ȝ̇òlvïténas 6th hour honey bee veȝténas 7th hour (noon) eagle mùȝṙëténas 8th hour boar èpeṙténas 9th hour horse ècüténas 10th hour wild cat malténas 11th hour goose ȝ̇ànsëténas 12th hour butterfly fą̀flëténas 13th hour (6:00 p.m.) woodpecker pèixténas 14th hour wolf lufténas 15th hour hare casténas 16th hour osprey gasténas 17th hour heron àṙǫðténas 18th hour salmon àṁęðténas 19th hour (midnight) owl simténas 20th hour leopard ȝàṙgëténas 21st hour jackal tuṙténas 22nd hour weasel ĸesténas 23rd hour mallard nąþténas 24th hour kingfisher cę̀ṙolténas

• The daylight hours are comprised of eight unequal sections;

1 daybreak ąmṙéqṙas 2 dawn ą̀uspéṙas daybreak to sunrise 3 sunrise sųlm̧ácas 4 morning ą́ȝṙas sunrise to noon 5 noon lóṁnas 6 afternoon poslóṁnas noon to sunset 7 sunset dų́as 8 evening ṁespéṙas sunset to nightfall nightfall noḷéqṙas midnight mèðïnóḷtas

• Telling time is always done by addition, never by subtraction; thus, 2:45, not 15 minutes (a quarter) to 3. The hour (ténas</font?> is told by the ordinal number. Thus 2:00 is d̬óta ténas, the second hour. The minutes (ténlas) are told by the cardinal numbers. Thus 2:45 is d̬óta ténas d̬o κ̧úṙ pis, the second hour forty-five. If there are seconds (ténlëĸas), they are added to the minutes using the co-ordinating conjunction. Thus, 2:45:16 is d̬óta ténas d̬ò κ̧uṙ pènĸ̌e κų́zĸ̌e.
• Keeping time is the task of one of the ? in each citadel. He is known as the tenpǫ́tus, the timekeeper. He is also known as the ȝą́ĸus, the chandler. It is his sole task to make candles from the bees’ wax, both for lighting and for keeping time.

9. The Lunar Cycle (?)

• The lunar cycle contains thirteen moons (mę́nsas). The first month begins at midnight on the day when the first crescent of the first new moon after ȝ̇emsúĸas is sighted. The other months begin at midnight on the day of the successive new moons. These months are merely numbered.