Ndak Calendar
Years and months
The Ndak calendar was based on months of 45 days each, giving a decent alignment with the 44.96 days of the lunar month.
However, a solar year on Akana has 384.1 days, which does not align well with the length of the month. The Ndak responded by making a calendar year eight and a half months long; every two-year period had 17 months, resolved by using an eight-month cycle with an extra month added every other year such that in those years, New Years' Day fell in the middle of the extra month. This would yield 382.5 days per calendar year, on average. Of course, this is still short of the true value. The Ndak knew about the shortfall and fixed it most of the way by adding an extra month every thirty years. That is, the extra ninth-month that normally occured every odd-numbered year would also occur in even-numbered years that were multiples of 30.
The Fáralo, who used purely 8-day weeks (instead of the alternating seven and eight-day weeks of the Ndak), grouped them into eight months per year of 48 days each, again dropping any length alternation: this yields 384 days per calendar year, much closer to the true value but still slightly short, but also far less in sync with the moon.
Days of the week
Ndak Empire
The Ndak alternated between seven and eight-day weeks, which allowed a better match with the months. The names of the days all relate to gods or goddesses, though indirectly, since it was not reverent to invoke the gods simply to talk about when something happened.
| Day | Ndak Ta | Meaning | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lu airti palmambi | the secret one | god of hidden and difficult things |
| 2 | lu airti anto | the old one | crone goddess of fertility, healing |
| 3 | lu airti angài | war | |
| 4 | lu airti imbi | moon | |
| 5 | lu airti baulai | earth | |
| 6 | lu airti omo | mother | i.e. Ombàsi |
| 7 | lu airti tol | sun | usual rest day |
| 8 | lu airti lêtsau | the cold one | actually a demon, but one to be propitiated — every other week |
Axôltseubeu
Two millennia after Tsinakan, the Ndok still used the ancient calendar almost unchanged, alternating between weeks of seven and eight days. The names of the days are arguably even more transparent than in Ndak times; this is due to replacement of archaic-sounding forms with more common words of similar meaning where the semantic connection to a minor god has become opaque.
| Day | Ndok Aisô | Meaning | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | aitixa polp'eu | mystery | |
| 2 | aitixa uxoi | healing | |
| 3 | aitixa agoi | battle | associated with Êtsdehad |
| 4 | aitixa êp'eu | moon | associated with Ngadagoi |
| 5 | aitixa boiloi | earth | |
| 6 | aitixa eubeu | mother | associated with Op'euseu |
| 7 | aitixa oigoi | divine light | associated with Aitol; day of rest |
| 8 | aitixa tôxadoi | protection | (every other week) |
Huyfárah
The Faraghin adopted the Ndak week, replacing some of the names with their own deities and borrowing others. They could never get the hang of the alternating 7- and 8-day weeks, and simply made all weeks 8 days. The Fáralo kept the Faraghin names, except for day 6 which was renamed for the Ndak mother goddess, and day 3 which was changed from 'war' to 'blessing' after the adoption of Etúgə.
| Day | Faraghin | Fáralo | Meaning | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breuš | lu-bewš | Fate | replaces the Secret God |
| 2 | Šors | lu-sos | the old wise one | |
| 3 | Nirgha | lu-ekúi | war / blessing | |
| 4 | Gereč | lu-geoč | the moon | |
| 5 | Barloi | lu-baoluy | NT "earth" | |
| 6 | Deubar | lu-ubáz | a powerful goddess | |
| 7 | Seršan | lu-seošan | the sun | day of rest |
| 8 | Lečeu | lu-lečew | NT "cold one" |
Buruya
Under the influence of Huyfárah, Buruya adopted the kəsusa xara ("Faraghin calendar"). Most days and months retained their native names; day 3 was borrowed from Fáralo, with the characteristic suffix -yo added.
| Day | Name | Meaning | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | palmayo | the secret one | |
| 2 | atsɔyo | the old wise one | |
| 3 | ɛkuyo | blessing | < F. ekúi |
| 4 | əbeyo | moon | |
| 5 | buliyo | earth | |
| 6 | omɔyo | the mother goddess | |
| 7 | toyo | sun | day of rest |
| 8 | tsuyo | the cold one |
However, since the Ndok – important trade partners of the Buruyans – still used the original system with alternating week lengths, knowledge of the kəsusa nzok was pretty much required for any Buruya merchant because the days of the week in one calendar constantly shifted relative to those of the other calendar. Most people used the same names for days and months in both calendars, with the mandatory qualifier nzok added when referring to the Ndok system; educated speakers often preferred to use the original Ndok Aisô terms instead.
Mɨdu
The "Faraghin Week" (Horan Yati) was inherited by the Fáralo of medieval Mɨdu. The names of the days remained the same, minus the definite article - except for lu-Ubáz, where the lu- was joined to the root.
| Day | Namɨdu | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | bes | lucky |
| 2 | sos | unlucky |
| 3 | ekɨ / leps | Etúgə and Epɨmya terms - latter means "destruction" |
| 4 | gets | |
| 5 | balɨ | lucky |
| 6 | luboz | |
| 7 | sesan | day of rest |
| 8 | lettse | unlucky |