Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-calendars/
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In article <102uhvh$f8$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-calendars/

Some examples of my own acquaintance:

Graydon Saunders' Commonweal uses the French revolutionary calendar,
but with a couple of subtle modifications: first, the Commonweal is in
the southern hemisphere, so the months are aligned to local seasons
rather than Paris ca. 1789; and second -- this took me quite a while
to notice -- Saunders has moved Festival, and thus the turning of the
year, from the end of summer to the beginning. There is off-hand
mention of pre-Commonweal dating systems but not in enough detail to
identify them.

Diane Duane's Middle Kingdoms use a calendar based on four 90-day
seasons, with the equivalent of the Gregorian adjustment implemented
by dropping the 208th day of every 128th year. The extra five days
(six days for leap years) are the "Dreadnights", intercalated at the
winter solstice. I believe there have been similar calendars proposed
IRL but don't know what they were called. In an appendix, Duane notes
that the people of the Middle Kingdoms do reckon by the lunar cycle as
well, they just don't use this for dating; the lunar and solar cycles
coincide for Opening Night every 19 years, which is called Nineteen
Years' Night, obviously enough. The dragons, being interstellar
travelers, have their own ways of timekeeping.

(I should go back and read those books and stories, given that it's
Pride Month and all, but I'm still trying to finish my Hugo reading
before the voting closes.)

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can, wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

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On 6/18/25 10:20 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-calendars/

Given the different planets and settings, no surprise that Le Guin also
had many calendars in her Hainish works. I don’t remember any of the
details at this far remove, though.

In the Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar uses calendars based on the Emperors birthdays (for things like taxes, for example). I think they also use
the Emperor's reigns for keeping track of years.

Asimov’s Foundation series used Galactic Era and Foundation Era,
depending on the work. Trantor used GE. Terminus used FE. I don’t
remember when GE starts. FE starts in something like 12000GE, tied to
the start of the Encyclopedia Foundation.

I recently finished Rhythm of War (the 4th novel in Sanderson’s
Stormlight Archive series). This is set on planet Roshar, which uses a calendar based on the highstorms. (Highstorms are hurricane-like storms
that blow through the land every few days). Years have 500 days.

Tony

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On 18/06/2025 21.32, Tony Nance wrote:

On 6/18/25 10:20 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-calendars/

Asimov’s Foundation series used Galactic Era and Foundation Era, depending on the work. Trantor used GE. Terminus used FE. I don’t remember when GE starts. FE starts in something like 12000GE, tied to the start of the Encyclopedia Foundation.

According to stuff that I teased out of _Forward the Foundation_ some years back, Seldon died in 12,069 GE, which was also 1 FE. So, presumably, FE started in 12068 GE.

Per "Beginning of War" (Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_), GE started with "the
accession of the traditional Kambale dynasty."

This dating was being used for dates by the time of "Blind Alley"[1], which is set
in 977-978 GE. I believe that GE dating also appears in _The Stars Like Dust_, but
a quick scan of my copy doesn't reveal any examples.

Also, by the time of "Blind Alley", mm/dd has gone away; days are just numbered 1-365 within a year. And, yes, an "Intergalactic [sic] Standard Year" is always 365 days in length, per Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_.

Well, mm/dd had almost gone away. Despite having said in "Beginning of War" that
the war started on day 185, the quotation from the _Encyclopedia Galactica_ that
heads "End of War" (Chapter 18 of _Second Foundation_) says that the war between
Kalgan and the Foundation ended on "9, 17, 377 FE".


I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Shire-reckoning yet. Those crafty hobbits set up a calendar of twelve 30-day months. Since that didn't align too well with the Earth's annual trip around the sun, they threw in some part days that weren't part of any month. Five or six of them, as needed.

It's all laid out in detail in Appendix D[2] of _The Lord of the Rings_, which also covers some other calendrical systems used by various peoples of Middle Earth.


[1] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41602>
[2] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1047472>
--
Michael F. Stemper
Deuteronomy 10:18-19


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On 20/06/2025 19:50, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 18/06/2025 21.32, Tony Nance wrote:

On 6/18/25 10:20 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-
calendars/

Asimov’s Foundation series used Galactic Era and Foundation Era,
depending on the work. Trantor used GE. Terminus used FE. I don’t
remember when GE starts. FE starts in something like 12000GE, tied to
the start of the Encyclopedia Foundation.

According to stuff that I teased out of _Forward the Foundation_ some years back, Seldon died in 12,069 GE, which was also 1 FE. So, presumably, FE started
in 12068 GE.

Per "Beginning of War" (Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_), GE started
with "the
accession of the traditional Kambale dynasty."

This dating was being used for dates by the time of "Blind Alley"[1],
which is set
in 977-978 GE. I believe that GE dating also appears in _The Stars Like Dust_, but
a quick scan of my copy doesn't reveal any examples.

Also, by the time of "Blind Alley", mm/dd has gone away; days are just numbered
1-365 within a year. And, yes, an "Intergalactic [sic] Standard Year" is always
365 days in length, per Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_.

Well, mm/dd had almost gone away. Despite having said in "Beginning of
War" that
the war started on day 185, the quotation from the _Encyclopedia
Galactica_ that
heads "End of War" (Chapter 18 of _Second Foundation_) says that the war between
Kalgan and the Foundation ended on "9, 17, 377 FE".

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Shire-reckoning yet. Those crafty
hobbits set up a calendar of twelve 30-day months. Since that didn't
align too
well with the Earth's annual trip around the sun, they threw in some
part days
that weren't part of any month. Five or six of them, as needed.

One or two midsummer days that aren't weekdays
either. So that one year's calendar is practically
identical to the next. Saves on stationery.
Only the length of midsummer varies, and that's
holiday.

The actual Earth orbit year is 365 and a fraction
days, and apparently was back then, too. And 365
is one day off being 52 whole weeks.

It's all laid out in detail in Appendix D[2] of _The Lord of the Rings_, which
also covers some other calendrical systems used by various peoples of
Middle
Earth.

[1] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41602>
[2] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1047472>

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On 6/20/25 2:50 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

On 18/06/2025 21.32, Tony Nance wrote:

On 6/18/25 10:20 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars

So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

https://reactormag.com/counting-the-days-five-sff-approaches-to-
calendars/

Asimov’s Foundation series used Galactic Era and Foundation Era,
depending on the work. Trantor used GE. Terminus used FE. I don’t
remember when GE starts. FE starts in something like 12000GE, tied to
the start of the Encyclopedia Foundation.

According to stuff that I teased out of _Forward the Foundation_ some years back, Seldon died in 12,069 GE, which was also 1 FE. So, presumably, FE started
in 12068 GE.

Per "Beginning of War" (Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_), GE started
with "the
accession of the traditional Kambale dynasty."

This dating was being used for dates by the time of "Blind Alley"[1],
which is set
in 977-978 GE. I believe that GE dating also appears in _The Stars Like Dust_, but
a quick scan of my copy doesn't reveal any examples.

Also, by the time of "Blind Alley", mm/dd has gone away; days are just numbered
1-365 within a year. And, yes, an "Intergalactic [sic] Standard Year" is always
365 days in length, per Chapter 16 of _Second Foundation_.

Well, mm/dd had almost gone away. Despite having said in "Beginning of
War" that
the war started on day 185, the quotation from the _Encyclopedia
Galactica_ that
heads "End of War" (Chapter 18 of _Second Foundation_) says that the war between
Kalgan and the Foundation ended on "9, 17, 377 FE".

Nice. Thanks for tracking all that down.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Shire-reckoning yet. Those crafty
hobbits set up a calendar of twelve 30-day months. Since that didn't
align too
well with the Earth's annual trip around the sun, they threw in some
part days
that weren't part of any month. Five or six of them, as needed.

It's all laid out in detail in Appendix D[2] of _The Lord of the Rings_, which
also covers some other calendrical systems used by various peoples of
Middle
Earth.

I'd forgotten all of that. It has probably been 30+ years since I last
read The Lord of the Rings. I should read it again some time.

Tony

[1] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41602>
[2] <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1047472>

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On Sat, 21 Jun 2025 15:35:31 +0100, Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:

The actual Earth orbit year is 365 and a fraction
days, and apparently was back then, too. And 365
is one day off being 52 whole weeks.

Which is why only 1 out of 4 century ending dates (e.g. 1700, 1800,
1900, 2000 etc) is a leap year - because the fraction ISN'T 1/4 and
that 3/4 00's years thing is an attempt to keep things in order.

Not that that will impact any adult living now since the next 'ending
in hundred leap year' will be 2400. That said, my 3 year old
grand-daughter has a very good chance of seeing the 22nd century -
hope she is there to lift a glass and remember us then!

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On 6/23/25 4:02 AM, The Horny Goat wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:32:42 -0400, Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
wrote:

In the Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar uses calendars based on the Emperors
birthdays (for things like taxes, for example). I think they also use
the Emperor's reigns for keeping track of years.

Is this something like the modern British celebrating "The Queen's
Birthday" (24th May) where I didn't find out till my last year of high
school that the Queen in question was Victoria not Elizabeth.....

It seems to be not quite the same. In the Vorkosigan Saga, the date
moves to the actual birthday of the current Emperor. On that day, for
example, the Counts give the Emperor a substantial amount of money -- as
a birthday gift, of course, since obviously the Counts could never do something as unseemly as pay taxes to the Emperor/Empire.

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On Jun 23, 2025, Tony Nance wrote
(in article <103cdjg$1e7o7$1@dont-email.me>):

On 6/23/25 4:02 AM, The Horny Goat wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:32:42 -0400, Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

In the Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar uses calendars based on the Emperors birthdays (for things like taxes, for example). I think they also use
the Emperor's reigns for keeping track of years.

Is this something like the modern British celebrating "The Queen's Birthday" (24th May) where I didn't find out till my last year of high school that the Queen in question was Victoria not Elizabeth.....

It seems to be not quite the same. In the Vorkosigan Saga, the date
moves to the actual birthday of the current Emperor. On that day, for example, the Counts give the Emperor a substantial amount of money -- as
a birthday gift, of course, since obviously the Counts could never do something as unseemly as pay taxes to the Emperor/Empire.

wasn’t there a throwaway line or two about the time that there were (IIRC) three Emperors in one year and a few of the Counts were short of cash?


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On 6/24/25 12:06 AM, WolfFan wrote:

On Jun 23, 2025, Tony Nance wrote
(in article <103cdjg$1e7o7$1@dont-email.me>):

On 6/23/25 4:02 AM, The Horny Goat wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:32:42 -0400, Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
wrote:

In the Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar uses calendars based on the Emperors
birthdays (for things like taxes, for example). I think they also use
the Emperor's reigns for keeping track of years.

Is this something like the modern British celebrating "The Queen's
Birthday" (24th May) where I didn't find out till my last year of high
school that the Queen in question was Victoria not Elizabeth.....

It seems to be not quite the same. In the Vorkosigan Saga, the date
moves to the actual birthday of the current Emperor. On that day, for
example, the Counts give the Emperor a substantial amount of money -- as
a birthday gift, of course, since obviously the Counts could never do
something as unseemly as pay taxes to the Emperor/Empire.

wasn’t there a throwaway line or two about the time that there were (IIRC) three Emperors in one year and a few of the Counts were short of cash?

That sounds very familiar, but I don't remember specifically which work
it came from.

Tony

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