Re: ConCalendar was Re: Plattsburgh

[Padraic Brown <agricola@WAM.UMD.EDU>]

> Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > Speaking of which, has anyone invented a chronological system for their
> > conculture?  The Kilz use a 24-month system (or 12, frequently months
> > are grouped in pairs).  The year, of course, is not the same length as
> > ours, since they don't live on Earth.  I don't have my notes handy, but
> > I think it was around 350 Earth-days, with a slightly longer day than
> > ours.  The day is divided into 12 sections, each of which are divided
> > into 144 sections, approximately equivalent to 2 of our minutes.  No
>
In southern Kemr (Brithenig speakers), where all the Kernu speakers live,
they make use of at least two time-keeping systems.  The Government, for
Provincial matters, makes use of the Roman calendar (il kalendars roman).
The year starts on Mar. 1; the days are either "fasti", ok for official
actions or "nefasti", ok for taking a day off; although most people are
Christian, the old holidays are still marked, and many have been
Christianized.  For external matters, the Government uses whatever the
National Government uses.  (Since that hasn't been specified, I can't
really comment.)

The Courts use a combination of the Roman calendar and the Celtic calendar
(il kalendars leyal).  The year starts on Nov. 1; the days and holidays
are similarly marked.  BTW, much of the first year law student's time in
class is spent learning how to properly combine two such contrary
calendars.  How embarassed would a lawyer be if he showed up at Court on
an illegal day, or took a day off when he should have been working? ;^)
The rest of their time is spent learning Legal Latin -- a conlang within a
conlang! -- and learning to properly adjust their togas.

Your average bloke in the pub would use the Roman calendar, but with
native month names replacing many of the Latin ones.  There are no real
'weeks', but all the calendars divide months into fortnights.

The overall system is therefore:
        year is divided into two halfyears (the Winter and Summer halves)
        the halfyear has two seasons; and each season has a half season
        the seasons each have three months; and each month has two
                halfmonths or fortnights
        each fortnight has 15 or 16 days; each of which has two halfdays
                (night and day)
        for legal purposes, each day has a half day for minor holidays,
                bank holidays and the like
All of these divisions make for plenty of time for fairs, festivals and
religious feasts -- all of which the people are quite fond of.

It's a bit cumbersome, but it's traditional and not likely to be
extirpated any time soon.  Hey, they still acknowledge Constantine XI as
Emperor of Britain!  Ah, well.  That's tradition for you.

Padraic.