Ursula LeGuin - The Left Hand Of Darkness

Therem's son, said stammering, "Will you tell us how he died? Will you tell us about the other worlds out among the stars- the other kinds of men, the other lives?"

8...8... 8

The Gethenian Calendar and Clock The Year.

Gethen's period of revolution is 8401 Terran Standard Hours, or .96 of the Terran Standard Year. The period of rotation is 23.08 Terran Standard Hours: the Gethenian year contains 364 days.

In Karhide/Orgoreyn years are not numbered consecutively from a base year forward to the present; the base year is the current year. Every New Years Day (Getheny Thern) the year just past becomes the year "one-ago," and every past date is increased by one. The future is similarly counted, next year being the year "one-to-come," until it in turn becomes the Year One.

The inconvenience of this system in record-keeping is palliated by various devices, for instance reference to well-known events, reigns of kings, dynasties, local lords, etc. The Yomeshta count in 144-year cycles from the Birth of Meshe (2202 years-ago, in Ekumenical Year 1492), and keep ritual celebrations every twelfth year; but this system is strictly cultic and is not officially employed even by the government of Orgoreyn, which sponsors the Yomesh religion.

The Month.

The period of revolution of Gethen's moon is 26 Gethenian days; the rotation is captured, so that the moon presents the same face to the planet always.

There are 14 months in the year, and as solar and lunar calendars concur so closely that adjustment is required only about once in 200 years, the days of the month are invariable, as are the dates of the-phases of the moon. The Karhidish names of the months:

/ Winter: 1. Thern 2. Thanern 3. Nimmer 4. Anner * Spring: 5. Irrem 6. Moth 7. Tuwa * Summer: 8. Osme 9. Ockre 10 . Kus 11 . Hakanna * Autumn: 12 . Gor 13 . Susmy 14 . Grende

The 26-day month is divided into two halfmonths of 13 days.

The Day.

The day (23.08 T.S.H.) is divided into 10 hours (see below); being invariable, the days of the month are generally referred to by name, like our days of the week, not by number. (Many of the names refer to the phase of the moon,e.g. Getheny, "darkness," Arhad, "first crescent," etc. The prefixod- used in the second halfmonth is a reversive, giving a contrary meaning, so that Odgetheny might be translated as "undarkness.") The Karhidish names of the days of the month:

* Getheny

* Sordny

* Posthe

* Tormenbod

* Odgetheny

* Odsordny

* Odeps

* Odarhad

* Onnetherhad

* Odstreth

* Obberny

* Odorny

* Odharhahad

* Odguyrny

* Odyrny

* Opposthe

* Ottormenbod The How.

The decimal clock used in all Gethenian cultures converts as follows, very roughly, to the Terran double-twelve-hour clock (Note: This is a mere guide to the time of day implied by a Gethenian "Hour"; the complexities of an exact conversion, given the fact that the Gethenian day contains only 23.08 Terran Standard Hours, are irrelevant to my purpose):

* First Hour noon to 2:30 p.m.

* Second Hour 2:30 to 5:00 p.m.

* Third Hour 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

* Fourth Hour 7:00 to 9:30 p.m.

* Fifth Hour 9:30 to midnight

* Sixth Hour midnight to 2:30 a.m.

* Seventh Hour 2:30 to 5:00 a.m.

* Eighth Hour 5:00 to 7:00 a.m.

* Ninth Hour 7:00 to 9:30 a.m.

* Tenth Hour 9:30 to noon