Last modified: 10423/8/24 HE 1230 WT [Mon 2/23/98 CE 0030 PST]
The primary units of time in the Waldzell Calendar (WC) are the Solar Year, the Solar Month and the Solar Day. The year can also be divided into quarters, trimesters and semesters. The month is divided into Waldzell Weeks.
The Waldzell Solar Year begins at Earth's aphelion (the point in orbit where the Earth is farthest from the Sun). Years are reckoned in positive numbers starting from the beginning of the Holocene Epoch (HE), the Age of Humans, i.e. from the beginning of the current interglacial period about 10,000 years ago. More precisely, the first day of the year 1 HE began at the time of aphelion in the year 8426 BCE. By convention, the year 8427 BCE is 1 BHE (not 0 HE).
Some CE dates and times for Earth's aphelion are as follows (UT is Universal Time, for practical purposes identical to GMT = Greenwich Mean Time):
Since aphelion in 1 HE (8426 BCE) was passed on March 11th at about 2000 UT, rounding to the nearest conventional civil hour for convenience, the Waldzell Solar Day likewise begins at 2000 UT. In other words, 0000 WT (Waldzell Time) = 2000 UT.
The first day of the Waldzell Solar Year is the first full day after aphelion is passed. Since the first day of 1 HE began at the time of aphelion (2000 UT for calendrical purposes) by definition, the first day of 1 HE was also the first full day after aphelion was passed. In most other years, aphelion is passed sometime during the day. Thus, the first full Waldzell Solar Day after aphelion in 1997 CE (at 1900 UT) will begin at 2000 UT, sixty minutes later. So the Waldzell solar day beginning at 2000 UT July 4th, 1997 CE is Waldzell New Year's Day 10423 HE.
The Earth's orbit around the Sun does not happen to coincide with an even multiple of revolutions of the Earth on its axis: the solar year is not an even number of solar days. Most traditional calendars employ some form of intercalation (adding so-called intercalary days to the normal progression of dates) to keep the beginning of the solar year on the same date as reckoned in solar days.
The Waldzell Calendar employs intercalary days in the sense that the calendar "waits" for the next aphelion: since the day is always 24 hours long, the year does not always have the same number of days. Waldzell New Year's 10422 HE, for instance, was the day beginning at 2000 UT July 5th, 1996 CE, and New Year's 10423 HE occurs 364 days later. New Year's 10424 HE will be at 2000 UT July 4th, 1998 CE, 365 days after that. In each case, New Year's is the first day of the first month of the new year, and the calendar must sometimes wait an extra (intercalary) day for that event.
Recent civil calendars have been relative to time zones -- calendrical events occurred progressively from east to west, and such fictions as the International Date Line were needed in order to resolve the ostensible paradox of west meeting east again.
The Waldzell Calendar does not employ time zones -- time is related to the relative motion of the Earth around the Sun, and calendrical events occur only once for the entire planet. As mentioned above, Waldzell New Year's Day begins at 2000 UT July 4th, 1997 CE. There is only one such time, and it is the same time for the entire planet because it is the distance between the planet and the Sun that is in question, irrespective of one's position on the surface of the planet. So the date and time of the next New Year's can be expressed as
but it occurs at the same time everywhere on the planet.
There are 12 Waldzell Solar Months in a Waldzell Year. The first day of the first month of the year is Waldzell New Year's, as reckoned by passage of aphelion (explained above). Every month has 30 days, or 3 Waldzell Weeks of 10 days. The remaining 4 or 5 days after the 12th month and before the New Year are intercalary: they are not reckoned as a short 13th month, but as Waldzell Year's End. It is during this time, incidentally, that such major annual events as the public Waldzell Glass Bead Game take place.
The names of the months are Entering Upyear, Rising Upyear, Falling Upyear, Leaving Upyear, Entering Midyear, Rising Midyear, Falling Midyear, Leaving Midyear, Entering Downyear, Rising Downyear, Falling Downyear and Leaving Downyear. The two semesters of the year are called the Upyear Semester and the Downyear Semester. The three trimesters of the year are called the Upyear Trimester, the Midyear Trimester and the Downyear Trimester. The four quarters of the year are called the Entering Quarter, the Rising Quarter, the Falling Quarter and the Leaving Quarter.
The intercalary period between the months of Downyear and Upyear is called Endyear.
The Waldzell Week has 10 days. The first day of a new Waldzell Month is always the first day of a Waldzell Week. The first 7 days of the Waldzell Week are considered Waldzell Workdays, the remaining 3 days constitute the Waldzell Weekend. The days of the week are Entering Upweek, Rising Upweek, Falling Upweek, Midweek (or Leaving Upweek or Entering Downweek), Rising Downweek, Falling Downweek, Leaving Downweek, Uprest, Midrest and Downrest.
The intercalary days of Endyear are referred to increasing negative numbers, the last day of the year being Endyear Minus One.
There is a complete calendar for the years 10422 HE and 10423 HE, with corresponding CE dates. Your browser must support JavaScript to be able to view it.