Calendars and Festivals

• The year is 367 days and a quarter, from spring equinox to spring equinox.
• The moon. Aethorra has one moon. It waxes and wanes in about 29½ days, so a year holds twelve moons and a half. The Reckoning's months are 30 days and pay the moon no mind, which is why the Drowned Court, the Waheli and anyone else who keeps a moon-feast must watch the sky and not the calendar.
• The seasons are all of a length. Spring begins at the equinox, on New Year's Day. Summer begins at the longest day, autumn at the second equinox, and winter at the longest night.
• The Lake Comet comes back about every 593 years. It was seen in 367 and in 960, and the Celestial Table foretells its next coming for 1553 R.

The Accord of Surmave in 0 R. fixed the borders and made a calendar that every signer swore to use in treaties, trade and law. That calendar is the Reckoning. Its months are numbered, not named, because no two envoys on the Isle of the Accord would use each other's names. Every realm names the twelve months in its own tongue, as set out below, and every clerk on the continent knows that Aldmere's Tengant and Kaishon's Mûhauhi are both the Sixth Month.

The shape of the year:

The Accord Days, in the order the envoys signed: Vareth's Day, Wessary's Day, the League's Day, the Twin Crowns' Day, the Khaasar's Day, the Three Thrones' Day, Tharax's Day, and in the fourth year the Absent Day. Two of the seven signers are gone, and their days keep their names. By the Accord's own terms, in the Accord Days no army may cross a border, no debt falls due and no court sits. The first term has been broken more than once. The second never has, because Caelvenne holds everyone to it. The Hrodvald know of the Absent Day and take it as an insult.

The year's turning points (in a year with no Absent Day; in the fourth year they fall on or near the same days):

How dates are written. In treaties and trade: day, month, year: 14th of the Sixth Month, 1146 R. At home, every realm writes its own month name in place of the number.

How each people counts its years

The Reckoning is the one count every realm understands, and it is the count this chronicle keeps. At home most peoples count their own way:

To convert: Grace = R. − 311. Flame = R. − 182. Sutzam = R. − 814. Vuvud = R. − 876. Kaishoni reign years start over with each emperor. For the horse cycle, divide the Reckoning year by eight and find the remainder in the table of the Cherüsh below.

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The seven realms each name the Reckoning's twelve months. Beside each name is what the word means in its own tongue.

Some month names are also the names of places or families. Caelvenne's Eighth Month is Surmave, "mirror," the name of the great lake. Tharax's Third and Twelfth are Denesk and Sastor, "eagle" and "spear," the roots of its two royal houses. Zarvand's Feshfan, "saffron," is the province of Feshfaan. Hrodvald's Barerk, Farrur and Selthar are a clan, a river and a hold. The months did not take their names from the places. The places were named for the things, and so were the months.

The Dunmorrow, the Qaflan and the other free peoples are set down after the seven realms.

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Aldmere

Months. Farmers' months: Chomark (harrow), when the plowing starts, Larrel (lark), Bredild (flower), Gleor (sun), Serleck (wool) for the shearing, Tengant (harvest), Halshul (mill), Wrunim (fallow), when the fields rest, Monmit (ember), Tulront (hearth), Bonsirm (snow), Spirmar (hare).

Week. Seven days, one for each of the Hearthfaith's seven Hearths: Somald (Home), Tengant (Harvest), Mawel (Forge), Totid (Road), Prilen (Healing), Tuvad (Law), Tunnath (Quiet). Quiet-day is the day of rest. The week runs straight on through the months and the Accord Days, so a date falls on a different weekday each year.

Years. The Reckoning. The Moot's rolls give the king's year of reign as well.

Festivals:

• First Furrow (1st of Chomark, New Year's Day). The reeve of every village cuts the year's first furrow, and the king cuts one in the royal field at Hethlend.
• Wemm's Night (the first full moon of Larrel). In the Southdowns, where Wemm shot his hundred arrows at the moon, the young archers of every village shoot at it too. The longbowmen of the Downs say this is where they learned.
• Harvest Home (30th of Tengant). The last sheaf is carried in and the Harvest Hearth is kept. Tengant is both the month and the Harvest Hearth's day of the week, and in a year when the 30th of Tengant falls on Tengant-day (about one year in seven), Aldmere does no work for three days.
• The Moot sits (from the 1st of Halshul). The Moot has met every year since 352. It opens when the harvest is in and sits until its work is done, which of late means the snow.
• Quiet Hearth night (the longest night, 6th of Tulront). Families sit an hour in the dark with the hearth banked and speak the names of their dead aloud. The Gray Choir sits in the dark all night.

Caelvenne

Months. Punsimor (dawn), Fiajane (lily), Illinar (silk), Clauve (sun), Dédint (shore), Ienaune (vineyard), Caudés (wine), Surmave (mirror), Vailal (glass), Jende (star), Grasore (lake), Gresil (ledger), the month when every book on the lake is balanced.

Week. Six days, so each 30-day month holds five weeks exactly and every date falls on the same weekday every year: Siale, Bove, Fiane, Glaure, Saive (one to five) and Gresil (ledger), when the banks close and the books are balanced. The Accord Days belong to no week. Every other calendar on the continent must be turned into this one before a Caelvennois contract is signed.

Years. The Reckoning. Caelvenne kept the Accord's own copy of it, and its clerks draw up the tables every other realm converts by.

Festivals:

• The Settling Days (1st of Punsimor, Clauve, Caudés and Jende). The four quarter days, when interest falls due. The first of them, on New Year's Day, is also the day Caelvenne pays Tharax the year's gold under the Iron Contract.
• The Radiant's Sermon (3rd of Clauve, the longest day). Every cathedral of Iévaine preaches against the Ledger. The Nine Houses attend. Their bookkeepers do not.
• The Night of Mirrors (9th of Surmave). The day of the Peace of the Nine in 294, when, as the common people tell it, nine sisters swore on a mirror on the Isle of the Accord. Every house on the lake shore sets a mirror and a lamp in a window facing the water, and from a boat on the lake the whole shore burns twice.
• Closing Day (30th of Gresil). The year's books close. A debt not settled by sundown is carried over, and in the Accord Days that follow no one may call it in.
• The new moon. Those who follow the Drowned Court leave offerings at the Drowned Gate every new moon, in whatever month it falls.

Castavar

Months. The church's months: Llusodo (bull), Lasdalo (grove), Rarveñe (flower), Vasborno (sun), Plune (field), Nirlona (grain), Larronlo (wine), Bussirje (olive), Corenva (hawthorn), Fojiga (silence), Litota (penance), Besriete (grace). The first two, "bull" and "grove," are older than the Berrode, and so are the rites kept in them.

Week. Seven days: Ieno, Bavo, Trado, Gova, Pemo, Sovo (one to six) and Fojiga (silence), the Solitary God's day, when the Berrode's services are held without music. The week runs straight on through the months and the Accord Days.

Years. Years of Grace, from Fojo's Hearing in 312 R. The crown writes both: the 835th year of Grace, 1146 of the Reckoning. The Berrode writes only the first.

Festivals:

• The bull-runs (saints' days in Llusodo). In the Llovo March a black bull is loosed through the streets on every saint's day, and the young men run before it. By a chance the Berrode has never looked into, every saint's day in the Llovo March falls in the month called Bull, in early spring, when the Grove of Lasdara says the land was first let run wild.
• The Hearing (the longest night, 6th of Fojiga). The Berrode keeps the night Fojo of the Llovo heard the Solitary God on the cliff above Grarañe. Pilgrims climb the cliff stair at Erbavo Fojo at dawn. It falls on the same night as Aldmere's Quiet Hearth, which is why the Berrode has tried to condemn the one and failed.
• Litota (the Eleventh Month). The Berrode's month of penance: no meat, no weddings, no bull-runs, and no music on any day.
• The Feast of Grace (30th of Besriete, the last night of the year). Penance ends, and it is the one night the whole realm eats together.
• The Thorn Vigil has no date. A White Thorn knight keeps it the night before his first battle. The order likes to march in spring, when the hawthorn is mostly in flower. A knight whose first battle falls in Corenva, the hawthorn month, when it has no flowers, is pitied.

Tharax

Months. Lokok (pass), when the Gap opens, Pharix (goat), Denesk (eagle), Krerk (sun), Xert (heights), Sekhert (barley), Tandox (harvest), Spatok (vale), Serx (fox), Ditherx (bear), Pydin (snow), Sastor (spear), when the Anvil drills for spring.

Week. Three tens to a month. The days are numbered kaim, dru, tirk, pesk, phex, skem, zirk, gour, nysk, dakt (one to ten), and dakt, the tenth, is drill-day in the Anvil and the day the mess-halls eat together. The Accord Days belong to no ten.

Years. Named years (gosris, "a year of office"). The Skekar are chosen each year and take office on New Year's Day, and the year takes the name of the senior skekir. The Thirty keep the list, and it runs unbroken back to the Accord. Tharax writes the Reckoning too, in its treaties and in the Iron Contract.

Festivals:

• Wardens' Day (1st of Lokok). The new Skekar take office and the year takes its name.
• The Three Days (10th to 12th of Xert). The days of the Battle of the Gap in 212, when four thousand Phymun held the pass for three days. Every mess-hall eats in silence for the three days and speaks the names of the dead on the third.
• The Harvest Watch (all of Tandox). The First Bound Rising broke out at harvest in 199, and ever since the Phymun sleep armed for the whole harvest month. The Bound bring in the harvest under their watch.
• The Empty Chair has no date: at every Phymon feast, all year long, a chair is left empty for Kharnoth.

Zarvand

Months. Nozdooz (rose), Khuhor (headwater), when the Spine's snowmelt reaches the Talodin, Kebid (garden), Zhaash (sun), Roveskol (dune), Daalher (date palm), Khaavaruq (pomegranate), Feshfan (saffron), Mozaaft (caravan), when the cool season opens the roads, Kelong (flame), Peenfid (star), Tiqeez (oasis).

Week. Five days, six weeks to a month: Vaam, Zhob, Tird, Chood (one to four) and Kelong (flame), when the fire-temples are full. The Accord Days belong to no week.

Years. Years of the Flame, from Salestaad the Builder's finishing of the fire-temple at Mazbaaran in 183 R., the year the realm took the name Zarvand: 964 of the Flame. The House of Learning keeps the Reckoning as well, because the star tables are written in it.

Festivals:

• The Walking of the Talodin (from the 1st of Khuhor). The girl chosen by lot sets out from Faashab-Talodin when the snowmelt reaches the fortress and walks the river down to Lake Shorooq, greeting it as she goes; it takes most of the month. No one may harm her, not even in war.
• The Night of the Flame (the longest night, 6th of Kelong). Every fire-temple keeps watch over its flame from sundown to sunup, on the night the Shadow is longest. The Eternal Flame at Mazbaaran is fed by the Khaasar's own hand.
• Truth-day (7th of Kelong, the morning after). The Khaasar sits in the fire-hall, and any subject may tell him one true thing and go unpunished. Avisteer III has never missed it. Faasheer has said he will end it.
• The Reading of the Tables (1st of Peenfid). The House of Learning gives out the next year's star tables. Navigators from every realm, Castavar's among them, buy copies the same week.

Kaishon

Months. Nairui (kite), Kàshòkdau (tea), Sèdewek (silk), Tsau (rice), Yasâuchên (lotus), Mûhauhi (dragon-river), the month the Muhau floods, Chígútá (grain), Mèizûrûi (examination), Tápèkòn (crane), Shôktéwâ (stove), Tsentsûi (pine), Soróshài (plum blossom).

Week. Tens, as in Tharax, and for the same reason: the months divide by ten. The days are naitàu, tebui, hênmau, yóktsi, gusòn, kaudá, paken, chinshìn, keinu (one to nine) and shôktéwâ (stove), the tenth, a day of rest when the household cooks for the Kin. The Accord Days belong to no ten.

Years. Reign years. Year one begins when an emperor takes the throne, and every paper is dated from it: the 48th year of Shaiku. The ministries keep the Reckoning as well, for dealings with foreigners.

Festivals:

• Kite Day (the first windy day of spring, nearly always in Nairui). Every village flies a kite from its highest roof, officially to honor the Rampart's signal corps. The paper wishes the kites carry are not official.
• The Rampart Muster (1st of Yasâuchên). Once a year every beacon on the Long Rampart is lit in a single night, from the Frostmarch to the Verdant Deep, to prove the signal corps still works. It has failed twice.
• The Examinations (Mèizûrûi). The Mandate of Merit's examinations are sat at Kokrin all month. The month is named for them.
• Feeding the Kin (the longest night, 6th of Shôktéwâ). Every household sets a full bowl before the stove for its household spirits. The Doctrine calls this a custom and not a rite, and every official's household does it.

Hrodvald

Hrodvald never signed the Accord and does not keep the Reckoning at home. It knows the Reckoning's months from trade and names them its own way, but its own year begins at the dawn after Midwinter Silence, and the Hrodvald count nights, not days: a journey is five nights, and a man is so many winters old.

Months. Aninn (raven), Bradunn (seal), Bryrso (oar), Kalig (sail), Barerk (whale), Hamul (fish), Galdan (elk), Stajend (mead), Thubor (frost), Stauni (silence), Farrur (ice), Selthar (storm). The raids follow the Farvig geese south in autumn, in Galdan and Stajend.

Week. None.

Years. Vuvud-count, from the Frostmarch Concord of 877, when all the clans first agreed to one law at the Vuvud: the summer of 1146 is the 270th Vuvud. Before 877 the skalds named each winter for what happened in it, and they still do: the winter the Farvig froze is 1089.

Festivals:

• The Vuvud (in Barerk, high summer). The clans meet at Krasvuv. In time of war they choose a Hearthking.
• The salmon run (in Hamul). The clans meet at the Farrur falls to net the run and share the catch. If the salmon come late, a stelest has lied at the Reldith.
• Midwinter Silence (the longest night, 6th of Stauni). No Hrodvald speaks from sundown to sunup, so the Ice Mother cannot hear them and count them early. The month is named for it. The same night the Deep Cold go out naked onto the ice so she will count them first. The Hrodvald year begins at the dawn after.
• The Ice Mother's Count (the end of Selthar, the last nights of winter). She walks the Frostmarch and counts who is left. Everyone stays indoors and hopes.

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The Dunmorrow (Dunmorri)

The holds keep Aldmere's calendar in their own speech: Chumark, Larrell, Bredild, Gleur, Serleck, Tengant, Halshull, Vrunimm, Munmitt, Tulrunt, Bunsirm, Spirmarr. The week is the Hearth week: Sumald, Tengant, Mawell, Tutidd, Prilenn, Tuvadd, Tunnath.

In the deep there are no seasons and no sun, so the hours are rung on the forge-bell (luadeft). And because the Dunmorrow never say a number aloud in the deep, dates below ground are written and never spoken.

• The Deep Moot (once in ten years, in the years ending in 5, at midwinter). The Thanes of the free holds meet, as they have every tenth year since the first Moot after the fall of the Kingdom Under the Spine: 565, 575... 1145, and next in 1155.

The Cherüsh

The Cherüsh have four seasons and no months: giktar (spring), jishot (summer), ikok (autumn), öszüyken (winter). Their year (elük) begins when the tulips bloom.

The horse cycle. The years run in a round of eight, each named for a horse. Divide the Reckoning year by eight and read off what is left:

1146 is a black-horse year, and black-horse years are unlucky: the Cherüsh Civil War began in one, in 1082. Sarsak Tolmar was born in a spotted-horse year (1119) and united the tribes in a dun-horse year (1141). 1147 is a white-horse year.

• The Bloom (two weeks in spring, most often the Second Month of the Reckoning). The red tulips carpet the Grass Sea; it is the Cherüsh's one feast. On its last day each tribe sets free one ingkunra, a horse promised to the sky, which no one may ride or catch again.

The Waheli

The Waheli keep moons, not months, counted from the new moon nearest the spring equinox, and they do not count years at all: a grove knows its age by its trees.

Because a year holds twelve moons and a half, about one year in two has a thirteenth: Veval (silence). In the silence moon no one cuts a name-bark and no one touches a living tree.

• The Naming Bark has no date. A child's name-bark is carved and buried at the first new moon after the birth, unless that moon is Veval, and then the child waits.

The Tzalan

The Tzalan year (tzàyoka) has two seasons: satzi, the rain-season, and the dry. It begins with the first rain. The Sun-Speakers count years from the founding of Sutzam in 815: 1146 R. is the 332nd year of Sutzam.

• The Opening of the Rains. When the first rain falls, the Sun-Speaker climbs the great pyramid at Sutzam and names the new year. It is a feast day.
• Feast days are called by the Sun-Speaker, at the turn of each season and whenever else he likes. On feast days the Sutzam dogs are eaten.

The Uusung

The Uusung have seven seasons of uneven length, named for what the camps hunt, and no count of years; a person is as old as the Long Darks they remember. The year begins at the Long Dark Vigil.

Mirgaq (the Long Dark) · Punrul (sea ice) · Kaanuna (seal) · Vuktaqsing (reindeer) · Malnaanvaq (whale) · Jaannul (walrus) · Hisurit (fox)

• The Long Dark Vigil (the first night the sun fails to rise, most often in the Ninth Month of the Reckoning). Every camp gathers at the Long Dark camp, the only time in the year they meet. The eldest of each camp goes out and speaks the names of that year's dead to the Lights, so they can find the door.

The Qaflan (Maved)

The road-cant has no month names of its own; the Qaflan say the Reckoning's numbers: chokchige naitau (month one), chokchige tebui (month two), and so on to chokchige dinve tebui ("month ten-two") for the Twelfth. They use whatever weekday the market they stand in uses.

• The Council of Wheels (the Accord Days). The elders of the twelve caravan clans meet at a crossroads in the Accord Days, when by treaty no army may cross a border. It is the safest week of the year to be on a road.

The Drift

The barge-towns keep the Reckoning.

• The Helms' Moot (New Year's Day, 1st of the First Month). The Helms of the nine barge-towns meet at the Wenvorm mouth. Each Helm has a new river-fish inked on the arm, one for every year on the water.

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Every feast that has a date, in the order of the Reckoning.

The longest night is the one night the whole continent keeps at once, each people in its own way, and most of them in the dark.

• The Battle of the Gap, 212 R. In Castavar, whose king lost it, that is before the Years of Grace began; the Berrode dates it "before the Hearing." In Zarvand it is 30 of the Flame. In Tharax it bears the name of that year's senior skekir.
• The Great Winter, 1089 R. The 213th Vuvud, "the winter the Farvig froze." A gray-horse year (1089 ÷ 8 leaves 1).