Over its history, the calendar has become more accurate, and reformed several times. In the course of this, it changed from lunisolar to solar, and finally decoupled from the natural cycle except in having 365 days in its year. The original calendar was supposed to have been invented by Simen, and reformed by his heir, Simen’s approval. [ Noksat cited this as an example of the acceptability and necessity of reform to sacred traditions: even the sage-kings altered traditions and customs.] Most likely, accurate calendar-keeping began with the star-worshipping priests of Milim., Milim kept track simultaneously of several cycles: the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.
Tepat absorbed Milim along with its astronomical practices and mathematics. In the early Nyow dynasty of feudal Tepat, the year was calculated to 365 days, and the lunar cycle to 30 days. This meant that 5 days were left over after 12 repetitions of the lunar cycle. Over the course of six years, enough days accumulated to form another 30-day month. So the calendrical system called for 5 years of 12 months and one year of 13 months. The New Year was celebrated the day after the full moon after the autumn equinox, so generally at the end of September or in early October; it was not only a new year and equinox festival, but a general harvest / thanksgiving festivals. The holiday still has big autumn / harvest associations, even for city folk.
Later, as the month was approximated to 29.5 days, a system of alternating 29 and 30-day months was introduced. The lunar year dropped to 354 days, with 11 days left over. This added up to 55 days over a five-year period. By now they had also discovered that the year was slightly more than 365 days, resulting in a system of calibration whereby in the 3rd year, a 29-day month was added, and in the 5th year, a 30-day month was added (which still doesn’t really add up, but whatever).
Every 11,800 years, the lunar cycle coincided with the year. There ancient Tepatites believed this to be a significant unit of time of the universe. An important cultural imperative was the achievement of the unification of humanity and its collective mastery over the universe, which many believed would happen in the 11,800th year. However, as it was uncertain when the cycle began, opinions differed as to when we would all become perfect. Some people believed the length of the cycles decreased with each repetition, because obviously when the world started turning it would take awhile to get up to speed.
After the Nyow Dynasty, during the Shattered Land, Tepat was politically disunified, and each separate domain kept its own records that were out of sync with each other. Some locations began to adopt a new calendar. Instead of having continuous months end to end, the “month” would stop after 12 repetitions and then rest, restarting on the first day of the next solar year. This meant each year had 11 days outside the monthly cycle. These were used for various “housekeeping” functions that had to be done annually. With this, the calendar became decoupled from the moon. Along with this, the New Year was fixed at October 5th. However, some places retained the traditional calendar, or had no consistent calendar.
The move toward calendars that were simpler but less attuned to
the movements of the spheres culminated in the reforms and
standardizations of the Qom Empire. Qom's Prime Minister, Silhen
i-Tsyam, scrapped the old system of dating which depended on
careful astronomical observation by priests, in favor of a much
simpler but divinely inaccurate model. Months were changed to a
consistent 30-day basis, with a mere 5 days left over each year,
which were assigned to the New Year holiday, outside of any month.
Like Earth, there are leap years, with every fourth year gaining
one day, in the form of an augmented six-day New Year’s Week.
The Year 0 was fixed from the time that the Qom dynasty
established a unified Tepat Empire, and the New Year was also set
back to October 25th by Qom to celebrate his reunification of
Tepat and enthronement as Emperor. Because this was about 3 weeks
later than the traditional new year, the preceding year was known
as “The Long Year” (Hûqtik Tel). It was quite an eventful
year, anyway.
This Year Zero is considered the most important in Tepatic
history, and “Generation Zero” historical figures whose
lifespans cross this period have a fascination for Tepatites
like “Founding Fathers” in the U.S.
The Conciliarity, which replaced the Qom Empire, kept the same
Year 0, allowing for continuous dating, and the same New Year, and
the same division of the year itself was also kept. They
appreciated that the new New Year was a human event, not
based on an event of nature, and decided to celebrate unity,
although they disagreed with how it was achieved. The Conciliarity
added to it a division of each month into 6 weeks of 5 days each -
hence New Year occupies one week outside of any month. This system
has remained in use ever since. (Notoq continued to celebrate
Harvest New Year near the Equinox, but later shifted celebration
to October 25 in accordance with the surrounding countries.)
In the Conciliarity, the calendar was the target of reform efforts by some “Humanists,” which wanted to give everything a human basis. They proposed a 270-day year, which would replace “a year determined by nature with a year determined by mankind” (referring to the human gestation period). This would have had the advantage that a person would be 1 year old at birth, and the birthday would largely coincide with conception day. (In fact, Tepat did indeed adopt the practice of projecting backwards 9 months from the birthday to an assumed conception day, and then reckoning age from that. Instead of birthdays, people would celebrate conception-days, counting backwards 9 months from the birthday to set the date of the party.) For the maximum reasonable human lifetime of 75 years, a “century” was defined as one hundred human gestational-years.
The Humanist movement also discussed creating units based on:
But the Conciliarity’s calendar won out over these more extreme suggestions. Hence, the longstanding Tepatic calendar uses a 365-day year divided into twelve 30-day months, consisting of six five-day weeks, and an additional five-day New Year’s Week. Since governments changed regularly every 4 years, the extra day of the New Year every four years was used to inaugurate new governments. Each of the years, months, and weekdays was given a number, rather than a name.
The rhythm of life and activity in Tepat is quite different from
on Earth.
In the new calendar, each month was divided into five-day 'weeks'
called thop. Originally, thop referred to a phase
of the moon. Since kyut ‘moon’ also means ‘month,’
subdivisions of the month were also called thop. As there
are 30 days in every month, each month has six thop. In
addition, the New Year comprises one thop which doesn’t
belong to any month. (The Leap Day every four years, additionally,
does not belong any thop.)
(Time words aren’t the only place where thop exerts its tidal influence. Thop is also found in slikthop ‘crescent,’ literally ‘shape-phase.’ Menstruation is often called thopum ‘feminine phase/week’ or santhop ‘blood [of the] phase.’ Also, Tepat’s standard silver coin is colloquially known as a ‘moon.’ Naturally, the coin worth one-sixth of that value came to be called a thop as well – like Tepat’s version of the quarter)
Although they close for designated festivals, government offices are otherwise open almost continuously. In consequence, each person’s day off is different. Previously government workers were each randomly assigned their off-day, but now it is possible to choose which day to take off. Hence offices tend to be open for business every day, though on any day, 1/5 of the workforce may be absent.
Tepat’s labor law requires that workers are offered one day of
rest in five. Unlike Abrahamic religious cultures, with their
Sabbath days, this day of rest is not any particular one; Tepat
never had a fixed “sabbath,” and although they divide time into
weeks and specify that workers be given time off per week, it
never specifies a particular day for this; it can be any day of
the thop. This mini-weekend is known as man-i-thop
‘rest [day] of [the] week.’
Only small businesses with only one proprietor tend to be completely closed once a week, and there is generally no synchronization between the days they close. In theory, they can choose to rest on any schedule they like. In practice, most choose to pick a day according to the standard week in order make the schedule predictable to people they do business with. Later in the Conciliarity, a voluntary movement began for particular places or industries to coordinate their rest-days at the same time.
The one exception is that a number of people practice a schedule where they take off the last day of one week and the first day of the next, in order to have 2 contiguous days off in exchange for working 10 uninterrupted days later.
On account of this, Tepat does not have an actual “weekend,” and
recreational activities that are weekend-centered on Earth are
distributed throughout the week at lower intensity. Parties, when
they happen, may occur on any day.
(Many communities do however impose arbitrary days banning certain activities – for example, banning alcohol sales on the 13th day of each month.)
Tepat has a duodecimal numeral system, neatly reflected in the
twelve months. Below the level of the day, the significance of the
number 12 continued. The day was divided into 12 “hours” called wol
(each twice as long as hours on earth), which were divided into 12
phon (10 minutes long), which were divided into 12 cok
(50 seconds) and then into 12 nan (4.25 seconds), and
finally 12 myek (0.35 seconds). Clocks had a single hand
that moved slowly around the clockface over the course of a day.
Circles were divided into 144 degrees (12 x 12), rather than 360
degrees, so the hand would advance 12 degrees for every wol,
and each phon equaled a one-degree advance.
Extending in the other direction, Tepat reckoned “decades” of
twelve years, “centuries” of 144 years (12 x 12 years), and
“millennia” of 1726 years. Trippy huh?
| Terrestrial Date Range |
Tepatic month |
| 10/25 - 10/29 | New Year |
| 10/30 - 11/28 | Month 1 |
| Thyun - Winter | |
| 11/29 - 12/28 | Month 2 |
| 12/29 - 1/27 | Month 3 |
| 1/28 - 2/26 | Month 4 |
| Sun - Spring | |
| 2/27 - 3/28 | Month 5 |
| 3/29 - 4/27 | Month 6 |
| 4/28 - 5/27 | Month 7 |
| Nay - Summer | |
| 5/28 - 6/26 | Month 8 |
| 6/27 - 7/26 | Month 9 |
| 7/27 - 8/25 | Month 10 |
| Hew - Fall | |
| 8/26 - 9/24 | Month 11 |
| 9/25 - 10/24 | Month 12 |
Now let’s look through some of the major named days or events of
the year - starting with the runup to New Year:
First, there are a whole bunch of traditional names for New Year
- whether the day or the week. The most general is Mut Tik
‘base[of the] year.’ But there’s also:
Continuing on…
A few more holiday notes:
Midyear’s Day - Reassessment day – the first day of the
Sixth Month, is halfway between New Years, and used as a day to
reflect on how one has done so far, and rededicate oneself to the
resolutions adopted on New Year. Not an officially established
holiday, it emerged in popular culture first.
Winterval - not a native holiday, but native to the
barbarians of north and west, who celebrate New Year in the
winter. Many of them live within the borders of Tepat, and their
holiday has gradually spread in Tepat too, with Tepat’s own
adaptations. It was not an official holiday, but eventually the
start of it was made a holiday out of respect for the barbarian
minority. The Tepatic date has become fixed to the winter
solstice. The original nomadic custom though, is tied to the cycle
of the moon, and does not have a fixed date according to the
Tepatic calendar. It starts on the new moon after the
winter solstice, and generally continues for 2 weeks.
Now for the most important holiday of old Tepat - Mut Tik
(‘base of the year’), which falls on October 25. The ancient year
was timed to the harvest and its bounty. In feudal times, it
became timed nationwide to the new moon nearest the equinox, and
later fixed at the equinox. Depending on the myth, this was
presumed to be the birth-date or death-date of the ancient hero
Simen. During the Qom era, it was moved a month later, to October
25, to celebrate Qom’s (re)unification of Tepat, and it has stayed
there.
Prior to fixing the calendar, new year’s timing varied by region,
like the harvest. In western regions, with a more Mediterranean
climate, where many plants grow through the winter instead of the
summer, the harvest and New Year were celebrated in spring
instead. It is still celebrated as a minor holiday, Pyal i
Khip Hyaq, ‘Western Harvest Day,’ although New Year is
celebrated with the rest of Tepat. Western regions did leave their
imprint on the national New Year though. Several flowers that
bloom in Autumn in the West, near the time of October 25, became
symbolic of the season and incorporated into the holiday, even in
regions where they don’t grow, much the same way that people in
L.A. dream of a White Christmas even though they’ve never seen
snow in their lives and are still wearing T-shirts.The old equinox
is still celebrated as a Thanksgiving Festival Pyal i Mal
(Khip), with people giving thanks for the successes, and
celebrating the achievements of the old year, before turning their
thoughts to plans for the future, as represented by the New Year.
While New Year’s day is October 25, the entire holiday lasts for 5
days, through October 29. This constitutes a Tepatic five-day
week, Thop Mut ‘Base Week,’ which is considered to exist
outside any of the months. New Year’s Eve is also celebrated, and
is actually when many New Year customs take place. Additionally,
every fourth year Leap Day is added to the end of the week,
creating a very special 6-day bonus New Year. This day is known as
Lûy Then "Leftover Day" or Lûy Slyot "Orphan Day" -
an orphan, because it is outside any week or month of the standard
year. Hence people use it to do charity and assuage their guilt
toward all the lonely people like orphans, widows, widowers, old
maids, and childless couples.
New Year has some similarities with Thanksgiving, because it is
autumnal and harvesty. A large family gathering and feast was
typical. Adornments typically included a wreath of twisted stalks
of grain, which was placed on, under, or around the main dish at
the table.
People in Tepat spend most of the time leading up to New Year
cleaning. Everything must be made perfect so the New Year can
start perfectly, so the rest of the year will be good, because New
Year sets the tone for the entire year. Unlike foolish Americans
who party the night before and wake up late and hungover on New
Year, in Tepat that would be unthinkable; everyone is in bed by
sunset and wakes up before dawn to observe the sunrise and catch
the early worm - wearing new clothes. (At this rate, America will
never succeed on the world stage.)
Another feature is large bonfires, which may have started with burning the chaff. All fires are extinguished, and then relit, typically from a communal fire. This may be accompanied by a parade of people carrying torches home, known as a “flame-run” (xam i-tem). People also used the opportunity to burn other needless or unwanted things to ‘clean up’ for the new year. Not just garbage but leftover food is destroyed with fire. The bonfire aspect may have started with the burning of leftover chaff after the harvest. People also used the opportunity to burn other needless or unwanted things to ‘clean up’ for the new year. This evolved into a tradition of collecting pieces of old paper scraps, on which were written various bad things – names of enemies, personal weaknesses, actions which someone regretted, things one feared, or even social problems – into a pot, and then throwing them in the bonfire on New Year's Eve. Conversely, hopes and dreams were written on paper the next morning and tied to trees in public. People tend to hang their anonymous personal wishes on the public tree. They put selfless, “proper” wishes on their own fences.
The first day was full of “firsts”: first greetings, first meals,
first actions, first piece of writing, first song, first word,
etc. Much care was taken in all things on the first day of the
year. It was believed that what happened on New Year’s would
affect all the rest of the year. If things were good, and done
right, the rest of the year would be good. If you screwed up, you
would be doomed to a year of bad luck. Only new food, cooked with
the new fire, is consumed on New Year's. (Phan dumplings
were a popular food.) To avoid bad things, “necessary evils” were
often taken care of during the month before New Year’s.
As in the terrrestrial West, people make new year resolutions. Additionally, they paid off all debts, let go of their grievances, and forgave people or sought forgiveness. As part of the forgiveness theme, the period before New Year’s was a popular time for leaders to commute sentences.
More new year notes
In some other places the timing is different. In far western
regions, where the climate is more Mediterranean and harvest often
occurs in spring or summer, New Year was traditionally observed at
this time, instead of in Autumn. It is still celebrated as a minor
holiday, Pyal i Khip Hyaq, ‘Western Harvest Day,’ although New
Year is celebrated with the rest of Tepat.
Home.
© 2005 Damátir Ando.