Everything about Runic Calendar totally explained
The
Runic calendar is a
perpetual calendar based on the 19 year long
Metonic cycle of the Moon.
Also known as a
Rune staff or
Runic Almanac, it appears to have been a
medieval Swedish invention. Runic calendars were written on
parchment or carved onto
staves of wood, bone, or horn. The oldest one known, and the only one from the
Middle Ages, is the
Nyköping staff, believed to date from the
13th century. Most of the several thousand which survive are wooden calendars dating from the
16th and the
17th centuries. During the
18th century, the Runic calendars had a renaissance, and around
1800, such calendars were made in the form of tobacco boxes in brass.
A typical Runic calendar consisted of several horizontal lines of symbols, one above the other.
Special days like
solstices,
equinoxes, and celebrations (including
Christian holidays and
feasts) were marked with additional lines of symbols.
The calendar doesn't rely on knowledge of the length of the
tropical year or of the occurrence of
leap years. It would be set at the beginning of each year by observing the first
full moon after the
winter solstice. The first full moon also marked the date of
Disting, a
pagan feast and a
fair day.
Marks
's
Noord-Europese Mysteriën (External Link
)
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On one line, 52 weeks of 7 days were laid out using 52 repetitions of the first seven runes of the
Younger Futhark. The runes corresponding to each
weekday varied from year to year.
On another, many of the days were marked with one of 19 symbols representing the 19
Golden numbers, the years of the
Metonic cycle. In early calendars, each of the 19 years in the cycle was represented by a rune; the first 16 were the 16 runes of the
Younger Futhark, plus special runes for the remaining three years: Arlaug (Golden Number 17), Tvimadur (Golden Number 18), and Belgthor (Golden Number 19). The new moon would fall on that day during that year of the cycle. For example, in the 18th year of the cycle, the new moons would fall on all the dates marked with Tvimadur, the symbol for year 18. Later calendars used
Pentadic numerals for the values 1 - 19.
Arlaug
Arlaug is a special
rune used in the Runic calendar to represent the
golden number 17.
Because this system needed 19 runes to represent the 19
golden numbers which stood for the 19 years of the perpetual calendar's cycle, the
Younger Futhark, a
Runic alphabet, was insufficient, having only 16 characters. The solution devised was to add three special runes to represent the numbers above 16: Arlaug (Golden Number 17), Tvimadur (Golden Number 18), and Belgthor (Golden Number 19).
Tvimadur
Tvimadur (
tvímaður) is a special
rune used in the Runic calendar to represent the
golden number 18.
Because this system needed 19 runes to represent the 19
golden numbers which stood for the 19 years of the perpetual calendar's cycle, the
Younger Futhark, a
Runic alphabet, was insufficient, having only 16 characters. The solution devised was to add three special runes to represent the numbers above 16: Arlaug (Golden Number 17), Tvimadur (Golden Number 18), and Belgthor (Golden Number 19).
The "
Wendehorn rune" of
Germanic mysticism is similar in shape.
Belgthor
Belgthor is a special
rune used in the Runic calendar to represent the
golden number 19.
Because this system needed 19 runes to represent the 19
golden numbers which stood for the 19 years of the perpetual calendar's cycle, the
Younger Futhark, a
Runic alphabet, was insufficient, having only 16 characters. The solution devised was to add three special runes to represent the numbers above 16:
Arlaug (Golden Number 17),
Tvimadur (Golden Number 18), and Belgthor (Golden Number 19).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Runic Calendar'.
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