Description of the Calendar of Dawn

Our calendar is an update of the ancient pagan wheel which divides the year into fourths and eighths. Each fourth is called a fourtum (or 4um) and each eighth is called an eightum (or 8um). Since 365 days is not evenly divisible by 4, we do not include the first day of the year in any fourtum. This leaves 364 days, and that can be divided into fourtums of 91 days each, which is also exactly 13 weeks. Because of this, each 4um starts on the same day of the week for any particular year. We also start our week on the same day that we start the 4um, so the beginning of the week changes for each year. The year -89469 is a Monday year. Some of our witches who follow the old ways believe that the day when a year begins gives special properties to the year. Monday is the day of the moon, and the moon represents the pinnacle of femininity. We use the same day names as the roman calendar, just because that's convenient to deal with other people in the world. Each of the 13 weeks in a 4um is named for the tree or plant which governs it.
The names of the weeks are:

Maize
Maple
Bean
Juniper
Squash
Elm
Clover
Oak
Coprinus
Pine
Hickory
Cattail
Walnut

The year begins at the spring equinox, which is named Zeroth Day.  Zeroth Day stands alone in the calendar and is not part of any 4um or 8um.  As a stand alone day and the beginning of the new year, Zeroth Day has the highest holiday: Celebration Of Trees.

The fourtums are named for colors which are significant to that time of year: VERDANT, FLAXEN, CLARET, and ALABASTER (it is customary to put the names of fourtums in all caps).  The fourtums then split into eightums which make up the bottom half and top half of the fourtum.  The bottom eightum (first half of a fourtum) has 46 days and the top eightum has 45 days.  The 46th day of the bottom eightum is therefore the central day of the fourtum and is the day for the celebrations that have been adopted from the Celts.  The most important celebrations though take place on the two equinoxes and the two solstices, which are near the beginning of each 4um.  (Not exactly on the beginning because the earth's orbit is an ellipse rather than a circle)

This gives each fourtum exactly 91 days (or 13 weeks).  The exception is in leap year when the extra day is added to the top eightum of the fourtum ALABASTER, which is then named Gift Day. (for convenience we have adjusted our leap year to coincide with that of the christians)  This day immediately precedes Zeroth Day which adds to the celebrations.

The years are counted back from the End of Humanity.  Consequently years have negative values and count up to zero.  The first Wise and Wonderful One calculated when the End of Humanity will occur - for more details on this read the book.

We are now in the year -89467. The links to the calendar is:

-89467