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The Littoral Oumuntou calendar was a lunisolar calendar used extensively by the Oumuntou people of Bahia before the 12th century AD and amongst minor sâres in the region until the 18th century, by which it had been completely supplanted by the Gregorian calendar. While direct written records from the Oumuntou people are scarce, the calendar is attested to significantly in Agudan, Euclean and Rahelian sources, which has resulted in its accurate reconstruction and study.
The calendar was almost certainly in use before the Houregic period and likely existed prior to the consolidation of the dayira. As a lunisolar calendar, its days were based on the rising and setting of the Sun, while the months lasted between successive New Moons (a synodic month). As the lunar year is much shorter than the solar year (354.36707 vs. 365.24217 days, respectively), the Littoral Oumuntou calendar made use of intercalary months (leap months) to maintain alignment with the seasons. These were inserted if the heliacal rising of the star Arctaurus (known to the Oumuntou as Moriro (from Proto-Oulumic mʊ̀dɪ̀dò, meaning "fire") and later as Gushhan – from Pardarian گوشه نشین; guwshh nshan, meaning "recluse") was observed in the final eleven days of the year, based on the requirement for the rising to occur in the final month (Izúloushálanda).
Months
Years in the Littoral Oumuntou calendar consist of twelve or thirteen months, and are referred to as izínyangá (directly translates as "moons", though in the modern sense the word now does mean "months"). They are listed below.
| Month | Rough translation | Rough Gregorian analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Ímvúfá | "when the sheep are killed" | Nov–Dec |
| Índoukoubéka | "when the staff is placed" | Dec–Jan |
| Oumlámbofá | "when the rivers die" | Jan–Feb |
| Oukolwenilima | "when the wheat is harvested" | Feb–Mar |
| Ámabelélima | "when the sorghum is harvested" | Mar–Apr |
| Amadlozibonga | "when we thank the Amadlozi" | Apr–May |
| Oumúsábóná | "when we see kindness" | May–Jun |
| Ímvúláduma | "when the rain roars" | Jun–Jul |
| Ímpaládlá | "when the impala graze" | Jul–Aug |
| Oumlámbogouáda | "when the rivers are full" | Aug–Sep |
| Íshibhakabhakalila | "when the sky weeps" | Sep–Oct |
| Izúloushálanda | "when the new sky is observed" | Oct–Nov |
| Ounyákágouáda | "when the year is full" | Intercalary month |
Days
The Oumuntou people used a rotating cycle of five days: Phúma ("rise" or "origin"), Mphákathí ("community"), Púmúlá ("rest"), Sebénzí ("work"), and Zíngélá ("hunt"). These days would repeat throughout the month until the next New Moon was seen, so would be referred to alongside an ordinal numeral to indicate a specific day. The first day of the month was called Phúma woqúkala ("first Phúma"), while the thirteenth day would be called Púmúlá wesíthathu ("third Púmúlá"). Because months always began on Phúma woqúkala (the day the New Moon is observed), they can essentially be treated as direct translations of ordinal numerals – though whether the thirtieth day (Zíngélá wesíthupha; "sixth Zíngélá") was observed seemed to change on a month-by-month basis.
In the Nguni language, dates appeared to be referred to roughly analogus to "[day] of the month of [month]", for example:
- First day of the first month
- uPhúma woqúkala wenyanga Ímvúfá
- Twenty-third day of the eleventh month
- uPúmúlá wesihláanu wenyanga Ísibhakabhakalila