Moomis Sori

The current calendar, that of Taneith, is a rewrite of an earlier calendar which was drawn up to chart the progress of the moon, something it did very well. Since the lunar cycle does not fit nicely into the solar cycle though, and everyone other than the Druids who originally worked it out needs to work by the solar cycle, it was changed about 300 years ago.

Calendar dates use the suffix MS, which is taken from Moomis Sori, which means Lunar Cycle.

Reality

The solar year (time between two vernal equinoxes) is 377.12 days, and the lunar cycle is almost exactly 28 days. A day is considered to be 24 hours, though lasts only 23 hours, 59 minutes and 55 seconds.

The Moomis Sori Calendar

The calendar year consists of 13 months of 28 days, which adds up to a total of 364 days - 13 days short of a solar year. It was drawn up by the priests of the Temple of the Goddess on the Black Isle over 500 years ago, and was designed to chart the progress of the moon. Year One began on the spring equinox of the year, at a time when the moon was full. Though the calendar was 13 days short of a solar year each calendar year, it realigned itself every 29 years, a period known as a Moomis Sori, a term which was later used to refer to the calendar system as a whole.

In 203 MS, it was decided to bring the entire system in line with the solar year. This year was chosen since it was right at the end of a Moomis Sori, making the calendar temporarily correct (though in actuality, only 197 years had passed since the original calendar was drawn up, not 203).

A day was added to every month, bringing the year length up to 377 days. Every 10th year an extra day is added to Yasa (the last month), and every 50th year an extra day is added to Horsa (the 7th month). Since this is based from 203 MS, the first leap year occurred in 213, the second in 223 etc, and the first double leap year in 253.

The Months of the Year

There are now 13 months, each of 29 days. There names are as follows: Versa, Mooth, Calain, Narda, Daesa, Brunath, Horsa, Ulda, Arafey, Forth, Magsa, Eep, Yasa.

Versa marks the start of the vernal (spring) equinox, making Magsa more or less in the middle of winter, and Daesa the middle of summer.