Malkeran Calendar

The Malkeran calendar is lunar with 12 months and an intercalary month added every 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19th year in a 19-year cycle. This cycle is called the Menmetot Cycle, after the myth of moon-binding serpent, Sasara Menmetot, who binds the moon's years together.

The months are named after important constellations, several of which are linked to spirits, deities, or legendary figures. The culture of Malkere is fundamentally maritime, so many of these figures feature a heavily oceanic theme.

The intercalary month is named after the storm-god Aigepolos, possibly as an appeasement, and falls in the middle of the year, after the traditional 6th month (Alterion). 

The year begins on the day after the new moon after the summer solstice.

Length of months are variable depending on the length of the moon phase - either 29 or 30 days.  29-day months are called "hungry" and 30-day months are called "full".

 There are no weeks.  Days are named by number in each month; common folk usually count by twelves (a full month is two twelves and six, for example, and a hungry month is two twelves and five).  The fifteenth of the month might be called "the twelfth-day and three".  Exceptions to this might be common numbers linked to shipping and goods, such as a saying (for the 20th) - "Scoreday (literally "ikosimer") of Tepanion" or (more rarely) "Dozenday" (literally "Touzanmer") for the twelfth. 

This renders roughly a 354-day year on years without an intercalary month.  Because the new year (Kanonion) starts tied to the solar calendar, this means that the months slip approximately 11 days every year, and according to the Menmetot Cycle are then re-adjusted with the intercalary month as noted above, so that every 19 years the cycle is reset and repeated (in other words, there are seven "leap years" where there is an extra month, following the natural cycle of the moon).

 Table of Months