New Rihana-ye Calendar: Preliminary (long)

In a message dated 7/18/04 12:19:16 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
ThatBlueCat@AOL.COM writes:

<< >

 I look forward to it!  >>
Thank you for your interest.
The old 365 day calendar, which accidentally resembles the Mayan "haab," is
described in the following text:
Calendar Wa-ye jomiha
             (Time-of Form)
10 months (fiyawa-fe) of 36 days each numbered in two sequences 1-18, 1-18,
first sequence prefix vi, second sequence prefix wi: vibywa etc., then wibywa
etc.
--the first day and last day of each sequence are holidays, so each month has
4 holidays--the 2 middle days (vizywa and wivywa)
are called "the turn of the month" "fiyawa-ye wejoha" -- they are more of a
holiday than the last of one month and first of the next (wizywa and vibywa).
The last 5 days of the year are chywa, hlywa, slywa, tlywa and thywa--days of
the five senses--on these days are held the five feasts of the Tivako cult:
1) The feast of the father (Tidakoba-ye tigomiha)
2) The feast of the mother (Tidakoka-ye tigomiha)
3) The feast of the son (Tibada-ye tigomiha)
4) The feast of his departure (Vejomiha-ye tigomiha)
5) The feast of his return (Wejomiha-ye tigomiha)
sometimes called the feast of his future return:
Viwejomiha-ye tigomiha

This description was written in the Dizilali Wivaroha (Small Copper Book) .
More recently
the Feasts of the Five Senses have been described in more detail in a
separate text.
I was never fully satisfied with the old calendar, because the Rihana-ye
system of numbers (and theology) is very much based on threes, and the old
calendar included
10 months and 5 holy days which did not fit the system.
The new calendar is more purely based on multiples of 3; it varies slightly
from the Mayan in that each year is 243 days rather than 240. Each day (zawa)
is assigned to one of the three basic human types ba (man), ka (woman) da
(child), in that order. (These are also the three chief gods, Tivaba, Tivaka,
Tivada.) Each set of three days (ba, ka, da) is in turn assigned one of those 3
types, a ba triad, then a ka triad, then a da triad. Three such triads make up a
"week" (myzawa) of nine days. Each week is also assigned to the three types,
so there is a ba week, a ka week, then a da week. This set of 3 weeks forms a
27 day "month" (fiyawa). Months again form triads of ba, ka, and da months.  A
triad of months forms a season (difizawa) of 81 days. Seasons again form ba.
ka, da triads. A triad of seasons (243 days) forms a "year" (fizawa). Years
again form ba, ka, da triads. This year-triad (dyfizawa) of 729 days is almost
equal to two "old" years (365 x 2 =730). Unlike the Maya, who worked out very
elaborate cyclical combinations of their two calendars, I decided to link the
two systems by saying that at the end of a New Calendar year-triad an
intercalary "va" day outside the ba.ka.da cycle is added. This means that at the end of
a new year-triad (two old years) the two systems should (if my math is right)
end up at the point where they began together. One complication: I had decided
(though it was not in the original Old Calendar description quoted above) to
handle leap years by adding a sixth holiday every four years. In order for the
New Calendar to remain matched with the Old Calendar, I therefore must add a
second "va" day at the end of every other year triad.
Eventually, I foresee grouping New Calendar year-triads into further groups
of 9, 81, 243, 729, etc. years. However, as yet the conhistory of my world has
not reached a length which would make much use of this. Meanwhile, when I have
time I have been writing out the day-names in old and new calendars and in
our ordinary system so that I will know exactly what day it is in Rihana without
having to do a special calculation. As yet, I have only gotten as far as Mar.
22 First Year in the New Calendar (day child, day triad child, week child,
month child, season man, year man: dadadadababa) which would be vimywa dyfiyawa
(Rising Ninth Day Third Month) Old Calendar. (I am accustomed to call the
first 18 days of each month "rising" and the second 18 days "falling" though that
is not an exact translation of "vi" and "wi." ).  Most existing dated
documents
give the day and month in the Old Calendar followed by the regnal year of the
current Overlord of Pihana. Documents sometimes use the year of a provincial
or city governor or a high priest instead of the overlord.  For historical
purposes there is also an era
dating years before or after the birth of the hero Tivako-si (Godgiven) who
led the Rihana-ye conquest of Pihana. This is used in a genealogy of the kings
but is not in daily use.
Eventually, I hope to use double dating of documents in both Old and New
Calendars.
I  also foresee a system of lucky and unlucky days based on the New Calendar,
 so that, for example, a day consisting entirely of man and woman elements
(e.g. day ba triad ka week ba month ka season ba year ka) would be fortunate for
marriage, a day consisting of woman and child elements would be fortunate for
giving birth, a day consisting of man and child elements would be fortunate
for an inheritance (say, a coronation) etc. Days using only 2 elements should
be rare enough to seem significant,  but even days consisting of a mix  of all
3 types could be rated for fortune by comparing the number of each of the
three types.
My apologies if this is more than you wanted to know. This is a current
project and my head is full of it just now. It involves a lot of math, which is not
my strong point, so if anyone sees any obvious errors I would appreciate
corrections.
John Leland