Happy Year Day!

Celebrate theAbysmal New Year biannually.

theAbysmal Year Days fall 260 days from the New Year (Dec 21).

Bunny Tea Party | Rabbit, Bunny, Baby bunnies
There are definitely 8 Rabbits celebrating on this tiny rustic table.

As a function of how the 365-day and 260-day calendars coincide, there are 2 year days during any given calendar year: one occurs 260 days before the New Year on Apr 5 (4 in a leap year), the other 260 days after the New Year on Sep 7 (6 in a leap year for now).

For example, Dec 21 2019 fell on 8~VIII (Rabbit), so we know Apr 5 2019 and Sep 6 2020 fall on 8~VIII. This also means that from Sep 7 to Dec 20 2020 the days repeat themselves beginning with 8~VIII. This means that number-glyph for the first 105 days and the last 105 days of the year repeat themselves, and leaves a period of 155 unrepeated days between them. This divides the year into three asymmetrical terms.

What’s in a New Year?

While the 364- and 360-day calendars begin with Dec 21 as New Year, the 365-, 363-, and 361-day calendars begin with Jun 22 such that Dec 21 falls midway.

The 363-day calendar skips both Year Days Apr 5 & Sep 7, and as they fall at the end of an 11-day week, this doesn’t disrupt the calendars intrinsic structure. Furthermore, if we look at Year Days and the New Year as they occur, we have

Sep 6 2020 – 8~VIII (Rabbit) last New Year
Dec 21 2020 – 9~XIII (Tobacco) New Year
Apr 5 2021 – 10~XVIII (Mirror) next New Year

260-day calendar arranged in 20 rows and 13 columns. The header for the rows are labelled by roman numerals one to twenty and named in the following sequence: turtle, wind, night, web, sperpent, death, deer, rabbit, moon, coyote, raccoon, mushroom, tobacco, bear, goshawk, fisher, earthquake, mirror, storm, sun. The rows are coloured green, blue, red, yellow from top to bottom. The days are numbered from top left to bottom right with the numbers 1 to 13.

One thing to note about the New Year glyphs – they’re all part of the iii family of glyphs, i.e. III (Night), VIII (Rabbit), XIII (Tobacco), and XVIII (Mirror). If you being with 1~Tobacco and trace a line diagonally down and to the right, and stop when you reach the next sequential number, it will cycle through the 52 days of the New Year:

1~XIII, 2~XVIII, 3~III, 4~VIII, 5~XIII, 6~XVIII, 7~III, 8~VIII, 9~XIII, 10~XVIII, 11~III, 12~VIII, 13~XIII

1~XVIII, 2~III, 3~VIII, 4~XIII, etc.

This calendar frames the Days in such a way that regular patterns and incremental progressions emerge from it constantly. Because of this, rather than framing our experience of time as linear, it frames it as multiple, fluid, and malleable.

cross-like symbol made of lines with circles at key intersections. The lines form five boxes, one at centre and four adjacent. Each of the four adjacent squares has a triangle attached opposite the centre square. THe four arms are coloured blue at bottom, green at left, yellow at top, red at right. The circle at centre is a double black and white spiral. In addition, there are 20 other circles.
nothing’s better

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