Namorese calendar

The Namorese calendar, known in Namorese as the Old Calendar (Калe, 古曆 tr. Kale), is a lunisolar calendar traditionally used in Namor and other Namorese-speaking regions.

Use of the lunisolar calendar which forms the basis of the Namorese calendar dates back to antiquity. Kanamora, the first dynasty in Namorese history to be supported by archaeological evidence, had a unified system of reckoning time.

Sikun, the God of Time, is regarded by legends as the pioneer of the Namorese calendar. It is said that after the first humans, Tin and Na, settled on Earth, Songte turned them into mortals. To remind humans of their mortality, Songte instructed Sikun to divide time into days, months, and years and determined the length of each. Thus the mortals on Earth had a calendar to reckon time, while the gods above, who were not subject to the whims of time, did not do the same.

The Namorese calendar is not a purely lunar calendar, as it uses intercalation to keep the dates consistent with the seasons, specifically by inserting an embolismic month every two to three years. A month begins with a new moon, while a year begins with the new moon between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Unique to the Namorese calendar is its own system for numbering years, with 2976 BCE — the year when the legendary kingdom of Nozama was supposedly established — as its epoch. Also unique is the calendar's use 35-year cycles which determine important anniversaries such as the Year of Salvation and Year of Great Peace.

Structure

Week

A week (сун, 旬 tr. sun) in the Namorese calendar consists of ten days. Under the Jidu dynasty, the week was shortened to seven days to reflect the seven days of creation as taught in Christianity. But the Dan dynasty restored the ten-day week, which has been part of the Namorese calendar since.

The days of the week are named after the ten most powerful deities in Txoism, with the order determined by seniority.

1. Songteri — Day of Songte
2. Vangmuri — Day of Vangmu
3. Sikunri — Day of Sikun
4. Kashenri — Day of Kashen
5. Hoshenri — Day of Hoshen
6. Rishenri — Day of Rishen
7. Ninshenri — Day of Ninshen
8. Nushenri — Day of Nushen
9. Vanhori — Day of Vanho
10. Yenfangri — Day of Yenfang

In modern calendars, the days are usually abbreviated by the Ventzi characters 嵩, 媄, 君, 閘, 河, 日, 寧, 弩, 忞, and 媛. In entirely romanized versions of the calendar, the days are abbreviated as S, V, Si, Ka, Ho, Ri, Nin, Nu, Va, and Y.

Month

A month (нат, 月 tr. nat) begins with a new moon and consists of 29 or 30 days. A regular year consists of twelve months, whose names are listed in order:

1. Chunnat (Чуннат, 春月, "Month of Spring")
2. Linat (Линат, 丽月, "Month of Beauty")
3. Yinnat (Йиннат, 樱月, "Month of the Cherry")
4. Hanat (Ханат, 夏月, "Month of Summer")
5. Runat (Рунат, 榴月, "Month of the Pomegranate")
6. Ranat (Ранат, 暑月, "Month of the Heat")
7. Jonat (Джонат, 秋月, "Month of Autumn")
8. Kanat (Канат, 桂月, "Month of Laurel")
9. Jinat (Джинат, 菊月, "Month of Chrysanthemum")
10. Tunnat (Туннат, 冬月, "Month of Winter")
11. Sinnat (Синнат, 幸月, "Month of Joy")
12. Monat (Монат, 末月, "Final Month")

Every two to three years, an embolismic month, or Runnat (Руннат, 闰月), is added to the original twelve months to ensure the calendar's consistency with the seasons. The solar terms, a common feature in many Monic calendars, is used to determine when Runnat falls.

Year

A Namorese year (Нин, 年 tr. nin) begins in the new moon between the winter solstice and spring equinox and falls in either January or February of the Gregorian calendar.

Multiple calendar eras were used throughout Namorese history. Originally, years were numbered with respect to the reign of the emperor, with an emperor's accession representing the beginning of a new era. This practice was discontinued by the Jidu dynasty, which adopted the Common Era (CE) calendar era. In 1317, the Dan dynasty adopted the Nushenic Era (NE), which recognized 2976 BCE — the supposed year of Nushen's accession to the throne and the founding of Nozama — as the epoch. Since then, the Nushenic Era has been widely used among Namorese and enjoys official status in Namor alongside the Common Era.

Friday, 16 February 2018 in the Gregorian calendar is equivalent to the 1st of Chunnat, 4994 in the Namorese calendar.

35-year cycle

The Namorese calendar uses a 35-year cycle to reckon time. Similar to, but shorter than, the sexagenary cycle used elsewhere in the Monic world, the Namorese cycle consists of 35 terms. Each term is made up of two characters — the first being one of the five colors (blue, white, red, yellow, and green) and the second being one of the Seven Luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn). In the first year of the cycle, the first color (Blue) is paired with the first luminary (Sun), while in the following year the second color (White) is paired with the second luminary (Moon). The cycle continues in this pattern until it returns to the Year of the Blue Sun.

The Year of Great Peace, an anniversary commemorating the end of Riro's exodus from Nozama, is observed every 35 years on the Year of the Blue Sun. The Year of Salvation, which commemorates Nushen's defeat of the demon Teyu, is observed every seven years within the 35-year cycle starting from the Year of the Blue Sun.