Re: CHAT: The Elven (or Techian) calendar

On Monday 13 May 2002 16:37, Danny Wier wrote:
> This is more a concultural item than a conlang, but the conlang part
> obviously is what nomenclature to use for days, months, years and any other
> calendary measurement of time.
        I love lunar-solar calendars, so I will forgive you. :)

> The Elven calendar is both lunar and solar, based on a cycle of 21 solar
> years and alternating lunar months of 30 and 29 days. Within the 21 year
> cycle, the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 19th and 21st years of the
> cycle are 13-month years ("long years"), or 383 or 384 days. The other
> years are 12-month years ("short years") and are 354 days long, just like
> the Islamic year. The first month of each year can be either 29 or 30 days
> depending on the year.
        How man years are "abundant" (384 days)? Running this through my handy
home-brew python lunar-solar calendar test program reveals that the closest
"ideal" would be either three or four abundant years. UNFORTUNATELY, this
scheme will very quickly derail itself. Consider:
        After 21 years, with 9 long years (three of which are abundant), the seasons
would be off by 36.9 days, and the moon would be off by -0.48 days. That
means that after two cycles, or 42 years, the seasons would be off by more
than two months, and the moon would be off by an entire day.
        After 21 years, with 9 long years (four of which are abundant), the seasons
would be off by 37.9 days, and the moon would be off by 0.52 days. Pretty
much the same results. Is there something else that manages to keep the moon
and seasons in line?
        :Peter

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