Oops. I meant a regular week within the year. The "Leap Week" of course has to have five days...
Alternate Calendars and Calendar Proposals Thread
- Thread starter Pragmatic Progressive
- Start date
Oops. I meant a regular week within the year. The "Leap Week" of course has to have five days...
Okay, an updated calendar
Year 0 = 1776
New Years = July 4th
Months -
Unitary (July 4th-August 3rd)
Laurens (August 4th-September 3rd)
Saratoga (September 4th-October 3rd)
Hancock (October 4th-November 3rd)
Dickinson (November 4th-December 3rd)
Boston (December 4th-January 3rd)
Franklin (January 4th-February 3rd)
Washington (February 4th-March 3rd)
Madison (March 4th-April 3rd)
Concord (April 4th-May 3rd)
Lafayette (May 4th-June 3rd)
Jefferson (June 4th-July 3rd)
Everything before 1776 is labeled as BR (Before revolution), after is AR (After revolution)
Example, my birthday would be ~Madison 4th, 222 AR
Months are all 30 days long, divided into 5 day long weeks with 6 weeks in a month, 360 days in a year.
Any other suggestions/comment/critics would be great.
Year 0 = 1776
New Years = July 4th
Months -
Unitary (July 4th-August 3rd)
Laurens (August 4th-September 3rd)
Saratoga (September 4th-October 3rd)
Hancock (October 4th-November 3rd)
Dickinson (November 4th-December 3rd)
Boston (December 4th-January 3rd)
Franklin (January 4th-February 3rd)
Washington (February 4th-March 3rd)
Madison (March 4th-April 3rd)
Concord (April 4th-May 3rd)
Lafayette (May 4th-June 3rd)
Jefferson (June 4th-July 3rd)
Everything before 1776 is labeled as BR (Before revolution), after is AR (After revolution)
Example, my birthday would be ~Madison 4th, 222 AR
Months are all 30 days long, divided into 5 day long weeks with 6 weeks in a month, 360 days in a year.
Any other suggestions/comment/critics would be great.
*sheds a single American freedom tear*
But it's not aligned with the solar cycle 
Sorry I know its old but whatever.
Rather than using elements couldn't one use the greek alphabet for days? Combine this with a fixed number of weeks, which could be named after elements, per month and you should be golden. That's what I did with a custom calendar I had. This would have to involve getting rid of shifting dates but that's not a tragedy.
The proposal is not old, not at all.
Maybe one could incorporate Greek (or other) letters for weekdays into the calendar - why not? I anyway thought of the elements not as conventional weekdays (not: "You have to work on the days of Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium and Terbium" in a contract or so), but more the equivalent of Saints' Days or other such sorts of remembrance and honoration days. Everybody would, for example, know that American Independence Day falls on the Day of Oganesson - and maybe, there would even be regular scientific/educational campaigns or something - but one would use normal weekdays - or days named after Greek letters or so - for normal purposes.
What about 12 9-day-weeks and a ten-day-week each month?
I've always been a proponent of the 5 day week, breaks down nicely into 4 days of work 1 day of rest. Plus you can break the 365 year down quite nicely into 73 convenient chunks with an additional one every 20 years or so for balance. 1 day per 4 years equaling 5 days every 20 years resulting in leap years of 370 every 20 years. If one were breaking the year into 12 months you could give each month exactly 6 weeks with one month(say january) having 7 weeks total though it gets an extra leap week every 20 years or so. So what do you think.
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Skallagrim
Banned
It's nice and orderly, and - to me - it makes sense.
Something I'm playing with is somewhat similar, but uses a basis of fifteen days instead of five. There's still a rest day every fifth day, but there are no months (or, depending on your perspective, no weeks). The year is only divided into 24 'Houses' of fifteen days, with an additional five-day House at midsummer (which is used to celebrate a great festival, and is extended to six days during leap years).
Somewhat less orderly than your proposal, I'll grant at once. But mine is for a timeline, and has certain in-TL elements to take into account.
I would define this as "no weeks" - not "no months". Months (or Houses) would be 15 days long each.
Another interesting proposal. Maybe use the names of the Darian Calendar - even if the TL is not playing on Mars - here?
If the calendar is secular- or atheist-oriented, I would recommend the SI Units. There are actually 27 or 29, so that you would have to choose. Or you can use a month name of the French Republican and of the Positivist Calendar each...
Also, depending on POD and setting, you could choose names of politicians - they shouldn't be US-centric, though, unless the calendar is to be specifically designed for the USA -, scientists, deities, anything you like...
Skallagrim
Banned
The names used in the Darian calendar are a thing of beauty to me, but the trappings of context make that exact naming system impossible.
Deities, however, is exactly on the mark. As I mentioned before, it's for a TL, and it's specifically for a TL based on a considerably longer-lived Alexander the Great. A TL wherein he manages to leave his empire to a capable and adult heir, thus starting off a long-lasting and very large empire under the Argead dynasty. I know, that's not the most plausible of outcomes, but it's mainly meant to be an exploration of the fascinating cultural results one may imagine. (Central question: "what if there had been a sort of 'Counter-China' in western Eurasia, creating a long-lasting sphere of cultural unity?")
One of the cultural outcomes, I feel, may well be a new calendar. In the TL, at least as I am currently planning it, the pantheon of the empire and its cultural sphere gradually absorbs ever more gods, ultimately resulting in a definitive pantheon of twenty-four deities. In part due to influence from India, the gods are later seen as avatars - of sorts - of an all-encompassing divinity associated with light (and visually represented by the sun emblem that just so happens to decorate the banner of the ruling Argead dynasty).
What we end up with is a calendar that divides the year into twenty-four Houses, each named after a deity (of which there are twelve male-female pairs), each of fifteen days. Thus we have the House of Zeus, the House of Hera, etc. etc. — but various non-Hellenic deities also get to be included. Isis and Osiris get a place, for instance, what with Alexander ultimately putting his capital in Alexandria-in-Egypt. Persian influences are strong as well, for obvious reasons. Anyway, the great new years' celebration, taking the form of a days-long festival, occurs at midsummer, during the five-day House of Light. Every four years, and extra day is added to the House of Light, and thus everything stays in proper order.
Regarding the exact names: I'm going all the way with the 'exploration of ATL culture' thing. Right down to constructing a pan-imperial conlang, not unlike a Greek-and-Persian(-and-Aramaic-and-a-bit-of-Sanskrit-plus-a-tiny-bit-of-Latin-and-some-Celtic-loanwords-)-based Esperanto (but introduced by imperial command and taught in all the imperial schools, and thus far more widespread than OTL Esperanto). The entire calendar is going to be named in that language, and then there's the evolution of names (of the involved deities) as language evolves... So 'Zeus' is actually 'Zios', 'Hera' is 'Eria', 'Isis' is 'Isha', 'Osiris' is 'Osheiros' and so forth. And 'House' is 'oikal', so we ultimately end up with things like 'Oikal Ziosens' (House of Zeus).
Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun with this. But the calendar is just one tiny bit of what promises to be a vast project.
For a world claiming to be post-industrial, an appearance of ease is necessary.
Each day is a nice, easily counted 20 hours of 30 minutes of 120 seconds each, a workable time for Earth, Mars- and, well, everyone else doesn't care how long a day is.
Each week is 6 days long, with 2 days of work interspersed between 4 days of off time. 2-1-2-1, the week goes.
Every month is a good 36 days long, keeping almost in time with Luna. The months are Commence, Monoda, Bida, Trida, Quada, Quida, Hekta, Hepta, Okta, Nota, Dida, and Conclude.
Every season is 4 months long, which while not perfect lets the few rurals left keep time well.
Every year is 432 days, 4 seasons, 12 months, 72 weeks long- 6 days and 6 hours shorter than the old year. As such, an extra 6-days-off week (Interkal) is given at the end of the year. Every 20 years, a second one is given at the middle of the year. The year is set back from the old date July 20th, 1969, 8P/Commence I-I, 00001. The next year would be July 19th, 1970, 6P. The next- July 18th 1971, 4P. By thirty years, it'd be Commence I-I, 00031/June 18, 1999, 8A.
Because the unix timestamp for 10 AM July 25, 2017 is: 1500962400, and the Apollo 11 landing timestamp is -14182916, combined this is 1515145316.
It is Commence III-I, 00048, 13.20.1/July 25, 2017, 10.00.00A.
Each day is a nice, easily counted 20 hours of 30 minutes of 120 seconds each, a workable time for Earth, Mars- and, well, everyone else doesn't care how long a day is.
Each week is 6 days long, with 2 days of work interspersed between 4 days of off time. 2-1-2-1, the week goes.
Every month is a good 36 days long, keeping almost in time with Luna. The months are Commence, Monoda, Bida, Trida, Quada, Quida, Hekta, Hepta, Okta, Nota, Dida, and Conclude.
Every season is 4 months long, which while not perfect lets the few rurals left keep time well.
Every year is 432 days, 4 seasons, 12 months, 72 weeks long- 6 days and 6 hours shorter than the old year. As such, an extra 6-days-off week (Interkal) is given at the end of the year. Every 20 years, a second one is given at the middle of the year. The year is set back from the old date July 20th, 1969, 8P/Commence I-I, 00001. The next year would be July 19th, 1970, 6P. The next- July 18th 1971, 4P. By thirty years, it'd be Commence I-I, 00031/June 18, 1999, 8A.
Because the unix timestamp for 10 AM July 25, 2017 is: 1500962400, and the Apollo 11 landing timestamp is -14182916, combined this is 1515145316.
It is Commence III-I, 00048, 13.20.1/July 25, 2017, 10.00.00A.
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What about Hancock for one?
Or simply using the names of battles for all of them?
The Romans only had months during the planting and harvest season, 10 months starting in March. The winter period was not measured by month and intercalary days were thrown into that lump when deemed necessary (not an orderly affair at first).
The -ember months were originally correctly aligned with their names: October was 8th, November was 9th, December was 10th. But after the Republic was reformed into an Empire, a month was added to honor Julius Caesar, right in the middle of the summer and everything was moved to accommodate his glory. Later, June was added right after July, making the Oct/Nov/Dec trio two whole months off. At this point, 12 months of alternating lengths covered most of the year and then it just took a few modifications over the centuries to make it more or less somewhat kinda basically adequate for actual measurement of a year.
Also, since there were 12 constellations it made sense to divide the year to match.
Has anyone tried to merge the seasons and months together? An entirely solar calendar that uses the astronomical beginnings and ends of seasons to mark 'months'. That would make four month-seasons, total...
There are quite a few 12*30+5 calendars out there - have a look at the Ethiopian calendar.
How can a month from July 4th to August 3rd be 30 days? Now that you've contradicted yourself I need some clarification of the month lengths.
Somehow I don't think people would find a day that is 5/6 of a solar day long workable. At any rate, what would one call a date in the middle of the extra weeks? Also, something strange is going on with your conversions (should we be losing one month in 30 years?).
I don't know what timeline you're thinking of, but it certainly isn't this one.
Isaac Asimov once proposed a "World Season Calendar" that is very like what you're describing. Each year starts on Gregorian 21 December and is divided into four seasons A, B, C and D, with D having 92 days and the others 91 (B becomes 92 days in Gregorian leap years).
Easy, I tried to figure out how to work it out myself and couldn't so I just gave up and let it be and kinda forgot about it. If someone else wants to take up the idea they can, but I'm done with the idea.
defensive indignance online
I. handwavey explanation involving the fact that its already so badly divisible that who cares
II. I don't get what you mean with your second sentence.
III. If you lose one day and two hours every year, you have lost 33.6 days in 30 years. In 00031, you have gone from 7/20-20 to 6/18-8. That looks to be about right to me.