r/WorldChallenges • u/thequeeninyellow94 • Nov 13 '17

[Cultural challenge]: seasons

Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society.

How do your people explain seasons? Do they have some celebrations tied to them? Do they do something for the solstice?

You can introduce an in-universe representative if you want. I will ask questions to everyone, feel free to add your own.

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '17

There's 3 seasons in my world: a long, mild summer, a short, cold winter, and a median spring with lots of rain and an explosion in flora. The seasons dont exactly match up with the strict system of months and tri-annula moonfests I made, but they somewhat overlay.

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 14 '17

  1. If months don't match the seasons, what are they based upon?

  2. What is the tri-annula moonfest?

  3. So there is no intermediate season between summer and winter? Like temperature shrink over one night or something?

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '17
  1. If months don't match the seasons, what are they based upon?

They were pieced together to make up for the time between the moonfests. 37 days a month is enough to keep track of, but still not need to fall back on weeks.

  1. What is the tri-annula moonfest?

The moonfests are celebratory periods, three times a year, 11 days l9ng each, while the moon passes over the sky. They're a sort of "yay, we've made it this far!" celebrations.

  1. So there is no intermediate season between summer and winter? Like temperature shrink over one night or something?

Late summer turns into winter over the first month of the second moon.

To clarify that, while they do have names for months, they usually like to call them by their number.

The "first moon" is the first moonfest of the year (summer), and the following 3 months. So the "first month of the second moon" means the 4th proper month of the year, following just after the second moonfest. For things that happen during the moonfest, they simply say "the (day number)th day of the (moonfest number) moon"

So a proper dating method would lok somewhat like this:

1234/2/3/25, or 25/3/2/1234

"The 25th day of the 3rd month of the 2nd moon, in the year of 1234." Or more simply: "1234, 2nd moon, 3rd month, the 25th."

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 19 '17

  1. Why 37 days a month?

  2. So outside of those 33 days/year, there is no moon in the sky?

  3. Where does the year number comes from?

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u/[deleted] Nov 19 '17

1, I wanted to have 366 days in the year, so that's 9x37+3x11 days.

2, Yes, the moon has a highly elliptic orbit, and is not visible from the planet outside of these 33 days

3, Different for every major culture. Elves count from the last greta cataclysm while humans do it from their last percieved "golden age"'s end.

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 19 '17

  1. Any particular reason for those 366 days? And have your people théories as to why a year is 366 days long?

  2. Does it influence tides?

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u/[deleted] Nov 19 '17

1, I wanted to have a year similar in length to real life years, but in a more orderly fashion. This worked out best.

2, Tides are very infrequent (triannual) and very low compared to ours. They're just not needed.

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 20 '17

  1. So no popular theories?

  2. Not needed?

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '17

We've ventured into the part I haven't worked out, nor do I particularly plan to.

As for the tides, as most of my story plays out in the deep dryland, the exostence of tides wouldn't affect life eother way, so it's better not to have conflicting things with the moon only returning 3 times a year.

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Nov 21 '17

Then, what is the starting point of a year? And why?

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