2:178  Description of time, feasts, and equinoxes

Book 21 takes place in 10,130 Contasta Ar

On Gor there are numerous ways to measure time, from the simple 2:26  sundials which sit atop every pasang stone marker on roads, to the intricate mechanical clocks, beautiful water clocks, and even battery powered time pieces, technological masterpieces which are very rare and very expensive.

Date keeping varies widely from city to city, most cities calculate their time from the last major significant event. For example, in Port Kar, the year is calculated from the year that the Five Ubars were overthrown and the Council of Captains gained sovereignty. Thus, a citizen of Port Kar might reckon that a given year is Year 15 from the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains.

Contasta Ar - Meaning, "From the Founding of Ar", Ar claims a history going back over 10,000 years, the most ancient historical lineage claimed on Gor. Time is often reckoned by this measure, it is used as a standard to synchronize the otherwise very confusing time lines found from city to city across Gor.

1998 on Earth was 10,149 Contasta Ar on Gor, as calculated by the year of the first Gor novel, Tarnsman of Gor, and the year stated in that manuscript, and subtracting one year for publishing schedules on Earth.

In Captive, published in 1983, appears this:it was said to be the year 10,1217:206  . However, since the action described inCaptives is all flashback, no accurate dating can be gleaned from there.

There are 12 twenty-five day Gorean months in most of the calendars of the various cities. Each month, containing five five-day weeks, is separated by a five-day period called the Passage Hand. The Passage hand separates between every month, there being one exception which is the last month of the year. This month is separated from the first month of the next year, which begins with the Vernal Equinox, not only by a Passage Hand but by another five-day period called the Waiting Hand. During the Waiting Hand is the time doorways are painted white, little food is eaten or drunk, no singing or public rejoicing is done. In its way it is akin to a period of mourning for the old year gone. Goreans spend much of their time outdoors, on the bridges between the cylinders and in the streets. They have a reverence for nature that is not always as appreciated on earth as it is on Gor.

2:178-179   "Chronology, incidentally, is the despair of scholars on Gor, for each city keeps track of time by virtue of its own Administrator Lists; for example, a year is referred to as the Second Year when so-and-so was Administrator of the City. One might think that some stability would be provided by the Initiates who must keep a caldendar of their feasts and observances, but the Initiates of one city do not always celebrate the same feast on the same day as do those of another city. If the High Initiate of Ar should ever succeed in extending his hegemony over the High Initiates of rival cities, a hegemony which he claims he possesses already incidentally, a unified calendar might be introduced. But so far there has been no military victory of Ar over other cities and, accordingly, free of the sword, the Initiates of each city regard themselves as supreme within their own walls."

On the Vernal Equinox, which marks the first day of the New Year there is great rejoicing; the doors are painted green there is song, games, contests, visiting of friends and feasting which lasts for the first ten days of the month, thereby doubling the period taken by the Waiting Hand. Month names differ from city to city, but among the civilized cities there are four months, associated with the equinoxes and solstices and the great fairs of the Sardar.

En`Kara - Lar-Torvis [first turning] - the first month of the Gorean calendar, that of the vernal equinox, which is the Gorean new year; roughly equivalent to the Earth calendar month of March

Dates are referred to as the n^th day of the m^th month, like the following from Assassins:

5:234-235   "He did so late in the spring, on the sixteenth day of the third month, that month which in Ar is called Camerius, in Ko-ro-ba Selnar."

6:1   "It was the fourth day of the sixth passage hand, shortly before the Autumnal Equinox, which in the common Gorean calendar begins the month of Se'Kara.

En`-Var - Lar-Torvis [first resting] - the fourth month of the Gorean calendar, that of the summer solstice, roughly equivalent with the Earth calendar month of June.

Fifth Passage Hand - Love Feast [occurs in late summer-best time to sell slavegirls]

Se`Kara - Lar-Torvis [second turning] - the seventh month of the Gorean calendar, that of the autumnal equinox, roughly equivalent to the Earth calendar month of September

Se`Var - Lar-Torvis [second resting] - the tenth month of the Gorean calendar, that of the winter solstice, roughly equivalent with the Earth calendar month of December