I've decided to come up with the system by which the evezhen and their various divisions would have used in order to track the passage of time. The systems would have been based around the relative motion of the celestial luminaries, and would have differed between the Age of Harmony, Light and Water according to the earth shaking events that enacted their transitions. With this in place, it would help to solidify the exact dates of various historical events.
To begin with, the original system that existed in the Age of Harmony. I know that I've posted that the passage of time was not carefully monitored due to the absence of death's call, but that is in terms of the number of years that would have passed. The evezhen would be bound to notice the day-night cycle, the phases of the moon and the turning of the constellations. But a count of years was not kept, and before the calendar was devised and decided on, none of the evezhen remember how many years had passed. Thus those who lived in this time were indeed of unknown age.
Due to the creation of the heavenly lights for the purpose of marking time, it makes logical sense that the evezhen would have reckoned time by the lights of the firmament. To that end, the names for day, month and year are compound words in tas eldwaraj. They are simply sun-cycle, moon-cycle and star-cycle, or satcwan, latcwan and yatcwan. In the perfect state of unblemished creation, these cycles matched up in exact periods. A year held 13 months and 364 days. Bear with me and I'll explain the rationale behind these odd numbers. The first evezhen held a seven day week, so the year was divided into 52 weeks. Each of the 52 weeks was in turn grouped into four week blocks of a month, resulting in 13 months. A month began with each full moon. Each new year began when the crown star, the brightest star in the sky, was at the zenith at midnight.
Why have a seven day week? Seven became a sacred number to the evezhen, for to them, it represented perfection, completion and unity. Seven is the number of persons in the original pantheon of the Yevel. The three persons of Eleyon, Alero, Ilvesu, Oleri and Unavo. These seven persons sculpted the world in a grand cooperative exercise. Seven is a prime number, indivisible. Tolkien had his elves count in sixes and twelves, but I suggest otherwise. Six and twelve are useful because of their factors, it makes it easy to divide quantities of various things for trade, commerce and partitioning. The evezhen, in Elin Garden, would have had no need for such divisions. We prefer factorisable numbers because we are used to calculating exactly how much someone should get for each transaction and what those calculations to be straightforward. The early evezhen would have honoured prime numbers above all as little cohesive jewels, unconcerned as they were about possession and partition in their material abundance.
The seven days of the week would be named after the seven persons of the pantheon. Spirit's Day, Soul's Day, Matter's Day, Alero's Day, Ilvesu's Day, Oleri's Day and Unavo's Day. Of the four weeks in a month, they could have been named the waning week, the failing week, the waxing week and the ripening week, following the shape of the moon. Then, each month would have been named after a constellation that would be at the zenith at midnight for the greater duration of that month. I haven't yet thought of imaginary constellations on a star map, so these months may remain unnamed for now. Then again, it also implies that I need to design a star map on top of a geographical map, quite literally. The Day of the Spirit was the holy day of rest.
Why 13 months? Well there's certainly no triskaidekaphobia amongst the garden evezhen, and 13 is another lovely prime number. The 13 months would be grouped into three seasons of four months each, and an extra month, the month of worship. During the month of worship, all other activities would be put aside for a collective focus of giving glory to Eleyon Cilves. The three seasons, another prime number mind you, were named after the three planes, the season of the Spirit, season of the Soul and season of the Body. As the garden was situated at the equator, there would not be much seasonal variation apart from varied precipitation and the change of the wheeling stars.
After the Rebellion, the massive tectonic activity and the destructive geological actions that ensued caused the cycles to go out of synchronisation. In actual fact the only thing affected is the rotational speed of the earth, turning slightly faster. Therefore in the Age of Light, a year had 365.1633 days instead. A month lasted 28.089 days and not exactly 28 days.
Because of these changes, the Elves had to alter their calendars. An extra day was added, and this day was not included in the weekly cycle to keep as much of the old system of weeks intact. It was known as the Day of Mourning, for on that day the Elves remembered the destructive effects of the Rebellion and wept over what was lost. That day was located in the middle of the season of the Spirit, for that was when Alero had enacted his plans. Furthermore, the days of the week were changed to the Spirit's Day, Soul's Day, Matter's Day, Light's Day, Water's Day, Air's Day and Earth's Day, in order to remove Alero's name from the week.
Corrections had to be introduced to account for the discrepancy between the years and the days. There was a leap year every 7 years. This day was added to the thirteenth month, and was another day of remembrance, but this time of the promise that Eleyon would return to set things aright. Every 49 years, the corrections would be too much, so there would be a leap lap year, where no extra day was added. Unfortunately the moon was very hard to account for, and the months and the phases of the moon gradually diverged. Every 12 months, the days would go out of alignment with the months by a day, so a day was taken from the twelfth month and given to the thirteenth. This gradually caused the months to shift out of step from the year. I'll work out more of these details once I study lunar calendars.
While the Elves kept with a seven day week, the Radiant changed their calendars under the direction of Alero. They preferred to count in sixes and twelves, their new mindset about possession and barter inclining them to factorisable numbers. They tried to enforce this system on the calendar as well, with a six day week. Thus, they had sixty weeks of six days a year, which were divided into twelve months of five weeks long. They renamed the days of the week to the Light's Day, Sun's Day, Moon's Day, Star's Day, Dark's Day and Man's Day. Man's day was the day of rest. The twelve months were named after the constellations as well, but the original thirteenth constellation was annexed into its two neighbours. The months were divided into four seasons. As for the five remaining days, they were festival days inserted between the seasons, with the gap of two days marking the start of the new year. These five festival days were named after the gods of the Pantheon of Light, Alero's Day was at the start of the year, then Saroza's Day after three months, Lassier's Day after half a year, Stalie's Day after another three months and Daron's Day at the end of the year.
The corrections would also have had to apply to the Radiant calendar, and would have frustrated their numerologists. To the Radiant, it was an ugly seven year reminder that whatever their preferences and senary impositions, the original seven would still persist, and haunt their timekeeping.
Because of these changes, the Elves had to alter their calendars. An extra day was added, and this day was not included in the weekly cycle to keep as much of the old system of weeks intact. It was known as the Day of Mourning, for on that day the Elves remembered the destructive effects of the Rebellion and wept over what was lost. That day was located in the middle of the season of the Spirit, for that was when Alero had enacted his plans. Furthermore, the days of the week were changed to the Spirit's Day, Soul's Day, Matter's Day, Light's Day, Water's Day, Air's Day and Earth's Day, in order to remove Alero's name from the week.
Corrections had to be introduced to account for the discrepancy between the years and the days. There was a leap year every 7 years. This day was added to the thirteenth month, and was another day of remembrance, but this time of the promise that Eleyon would return to set things aright. Every 49 years, the corrections would be too much, so there would be a leap lap year, where no extra day was added. Unfortunately the moon was very hard to account for, and the months and the phases of the moon gradually diverged. Every 12 months, the days would go out of alignment with the months by a day, so a day was taken from the twelfth month and given to the thirteenth. This gradually caused the months to shift out of step from the year. I'll work out more of these details once I study lunar calendars.
While the Elves kept with a seven day week, the Radiant changed their calendars under the direction of Alero. They preferred to count in sixes and twelves, their new mindset about possession and barter inclining them to factorisable numbers. They tried to enforce this system on the calendar as well, with a six day week. Thus, they had sixty weeks of six days a year, which were divided into twelve months of five weeks long. They renamed the days of the week to the Light's Day, Sun's Day, Moon's Day, Star's Day, Dark's Day and Man's Day. Man's day was the day of rest. The twelve months were named after the constellations as well, but the original thirteenth constellation was annexed into its two neighbours. The months were divided into four seasons. As for the five remaining days, they were festival days inserted between the seasons, with the gap of two days marking the start of the new year. These five festival days were named after the gods of the Pantheon of Light, Alero's Day was at the start of the year, then Saroza's Day after three months, Lassier's Day after half a year, Stalie's Day after another three months and Daron's Day at the end of the year.
The corrections would also have had to apply to the Radiant calendar, and would have frustrated their numerologists. To the Radiant, it was an ugly seven year reminder that whatever their preferences and senary impositions, the original seven would still persist, and haunt their timekeeping.
