# Calendar Guide
### Welcome to a new experience of your spin around the sun.
Use the menu on the left to navigate the sections of EarthCycles Calendar Guide. Or to move through sequentially, just hit the arrow below\...
# Getting Started
An overview of the EarthCycles Calendar philosophy, vision and geometry.
We humans have always tracked time using the cycles— both on the ground and up in the sky. This is the core concept of the EarthCycles calendar: Earth's cycles!
Alas, accustomed as we are to square and linear calendars, a circular calendar takes a little getting used to. However, once you get the gist, its actually all quite straightforward— and you'll wonder why you weren't looking at time this way all along!
This wiki takes you through the different facets of the EarthCycles calendar step by step. Use the panel on the left to navigate.
**Don't have a calendar yet?**
[Buy this year's Calendar on the GoBrik store](https://www.gobrik.com/store)
[Start using the Earthcal App to track your events and cycles](https://cycles.earthen.io)
# Features
EarthCycles Calendar, 2023 version
#### The EarthCycles calendar shows...
* The 365 days of the year and their weekday
* The weeks of the year
* Gregorian solar months (Jan, Feb, etc.)
* Javanese solar and lunar months Javanese days (Indonesian Calendar)
* The lunar month of the year according to the Islamic, Javanese and Korean calendars
* Planetary orbits for the year Location of each planet on each Solstice and Equinox
* Earth's perihelion and aphelion (distance from the sun)
* Moon phase Moon apsidal procession (distance of the moon from the earth)
* Super and micro moon The main celestial events of the year
**Featured Earth Cycles for 2023:**
* The Artic Caribou migration cycle
* Monarch butterfly migration cycle
* Ruby-throated hummingbird migration cycle
* Gray whale migration cycle
* Canadian Goose migration cycle.
# The Center
Understanding the Calendar from its center outwards...
Let's start with the basics: thankfully we now all know that Earth spins around the Sun! One spin around the sun is a year. This is the foundation of the EarthCycle Calendar's design: the calendar essentially represents one solar orbit of the earth.
## The Sun
For this reason, sun is at the center of our calendar. Around it are the orbits of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune. Each is represented by its Latin symbol and by its symbolic color.
## The Earth
As Earth spins around the sun, it also spins around its axis. Each spin is a day. Within one Earth orbit around the sun, Earth spins 365 times. In this way, the EarthCycles circle is divided into the 365 days-- the current year being featured.
## The Other Planets
Joining Earth in its yearly solar spin are our seven neighbouring planets that make up our solar system. These are each represented on the calendar by symbol and color.
You can see the orbits of the other planet's beside Earth's. Each orbit is colored corresponding to its planet's color and marked with its latin symbol (see the legend). Of course, all the other planet's have their own unique orbital periods. While the inner planets spin more than once around the sun in 365 days. The outer planets spin less than once.
In the center, Earth's orbit is blue. It is a full thick line.
The full colored circle of the planet represents its beginning position at the start of the year. The solid circle represents its position at the end of the year. The thick line represents the amount of it's orbit that it has completed in the year.
### Solstices & Equinoxes
While the center of the Calendar shows the distance traveled by each planet during the course of the year, the corners of the Calendar show the planet's precise position. In each corner of the calendar are representations of the precise positions of the planets at each Solstice and Equinox. Also, if you look closely you can see the precise position of the moon on that day as it orbits Earth.
# The Months
Solar, Lunar & Javanese Months
Humans have long divided the year up into months. We've tended to do this in two different ways. First, by dividing up the solar year (such as January, February, etc.). Second, by making each moon cycle a month (guess where we get the word 'month' from?).
The EarthCycles calendar shows both the solar and lunar months.
### Solar Months
The main focus of the Calendar are the 12 solar months. These months originate from the Julian calendar reform of 46BC. As the official calendar of the roman empire for over a thousand years, the Julian names of the months correspond to Julius and Augustus Caesar and to the various roman gods— which further correspond to various planets.
Unlike the rest of the calendar, where all colors are symbolic, the colors of the months are not symbolic. The calendar the months are simply progressively hued to correspond to the progression of the year.
### Lunar Months
It just so happens that the lunar months of the Chinese, Korean, Javanese and Islamic calendars are pretty much the same. The month begins and ends on the new moon. For this reason, the calendar includes the various names of the month in each language.
It is important to note though, that the lunar months of the various traditions do not begin on exactly the same day! The new moon's arrival depends on where one is on the Earth. For this reason the exact start of each lunar month isn't indicated on the Calendar.
# Days of the Week
For convenience the days of the week are included in the inner and outer circles of the calendar.
Did you know that most of the names of our days of the week refer to a planet? In English, there's been some twists, but in other Latin language the correlation to our solar system is clear!
| Day of the Week | Spanish | Latin | Source | Color\* | Symbol |
| --------------- | --------- | ------------- | ------- | ---------- | ------ |
| Sunday | Domingo | dies Solis | Sun | Yellow | ☉ |
| Monday | Lunes | dies Lunae | Moon | Light Grey | ○ |
| Tuesday | Martes | dies Martes | Mars | Red | ♂ |
| Wednesday | Miercoles | dies Mercurri | Mercury | Brown | ☿ |
| Thursday | Jueves | dies Jovis | Jupiter | Orange | ♃ |
| Friday | Viernes | dies Veneris | Venus | Green | ♀ |
| Saturday | Sabado | dies Saturni | Saturn | Dark Grey | ♄ |
### Colors
In the calendar, the days of the week are coordinated with the color of their corresponding planet.
### Symbols
The days of the week are also matched with their corresponding source symbol.
# Colors & Symbols
## Months
The months of the calendar are given a progressive color of the spectrum. January begins as purple and then the months progress chromatically through red, yellow, green, blue and back again to purple. This is to symbolize the progression and evolution of the year.
## Planets
Curiously, there is little in the way of generally accepted color symbolism for the planets. The color scheme for the calendar is based largely on the reserach of Patrice Guillard in his thesis [Colors, Planets and Metals.](http://cura.free.fr/22plcome.html) Here he lays out a color scheme for the planets that reference the Babylonian, Harranians, Mavéric (1910) and Gettings colorings.
Unfortunately, his theory has one glaring anthropocentric hole: he omits the Earth in his scheme. For this reason, the EarthCycles calendar uses a hybrid color scheme with the Earth taking a deep blue, Uranus a lighter shade, the moon a light grey and Saturn reverting to the dark brown coloring of the Maveric color scheme.
## Days
The days of the week, as you can read more about in the section Days, each have their root a reference to a planet. Consequently, each is given the color correspoding to its reference (i.e. Mars = red) begining in the 2022 version.
# Ecological Cycles
The EarthCycles calendar follow the cycles of magnificent creatures.
#### Central to the EarthCycles calendar are... Earthen cycles!
Each year we highlight five magnificient creatures and their great migratory cycles. Around the world, the cycles of animals, plants, fish and birds has guided the tracking of time for countless great cultures. In fact, many of these cultures prioritized ecological cycles over those of the solar months!
The EarthCycles calendar is directly inspired by the way the Igorot people of the Northern Philippines kept time. Rather than follow the months of the Calendar when decided to sew and harvest, the Igorots would pay careful attention to the arrival of particular birds. From the Inuit and their observation of the Cariboo to the Aztecs's and their observation of the Monarch butterflies (they incorporated them into their calendar too!), around the world cultures have synced with the ecological cycles to track and experience time.
On the Calendar, each animal is represented by a colored line in the outer perimeter space of the calendar. As the year progress, each animal's journey from one geographic extreme to the other is illustrated. The progression of their migration is shown by their lines movement from the inside to the outside of the Calendar. In the legend you can see the geographic names of each extreme as well as a representation of their movement from the inside to the outside of the Calendar.
For example, let's take the red line of the Canada Goose. By tracing the line with your finger you can observe how its migration moves from the Southern US in January to Northern Canada in July-- then back again in August.
When available, migration cycles are based on the previous years tracking data. For example, here is [the data](https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/canada-goose) we used for the Canada Goose from 2022.
For an account of the Igorots remarkable ecological synchrony see William Henry [Scott’s Some Calendars of Nothern Luzon](https://www.jstor.org/stable/666342) (1959)
# Javanese Calendar
The EarthCycles Calendar includes the Javanese solar and lunar calendar. Inherited from the Majapait empire, the Javanese people of Central Java in Indonesia, have long maintained their remarkable and unique Calendar. The Javanese calendar is used by the main ethnicities of Java island—that is, the Javanese, Madurese, and Sundanese people. The current system of the Javanese calendar was inaugurated by Sultan Agung of Mataram in the Gregorian year 1633 CE.
On the EarthCycle Calendar we represent:
* the native five-day week, called *Pasaran*
* the Solar month, called *Mangsa*the
* Lunar month, called Wulan
* the lunar year, or *Tahun*
### The Market Days
We've created an icon to visually represent each of the five market days along side the week days.
* ꦊꦒꦶ (Legi) – ꦩꦤꦶꦱ꧀ (Manis)
* ꦥꦲꦶꦁ (Pahing) – ꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀ (Pait)
* ꦥꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (Pon) – ꦥꦼꦠꦏ꧀ (Petak)
* ꦮꦒꦺ (Wagé) – ꦕꦼꦩꦺꦁ (Cemèng)
* ꦏ꧀ꦭꦶꦮꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (Kliwon) – ꦲꦱꦶꦃ (Asih)
## Lunar Calendar
The alternating grey center circle of the calendar contains the lunar Javanese months.
#### Wulan
Each [lunar year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_year) (taun) is divided into a series of twelve wulan/sasi or lunar months. Each consists of 29 or 30 days. This is adapted from the use of months in the Islamic calendar. The names of the month are given below in Javanese and Arabic which can be used interchangeably:
| Javanese lunar months | | |
| -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| Ngoko (informal) | Arabic names | Length of days |
|
| [Dhu al-Hijjah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhu_al-Hijjah) ( ذو الحجّة ) | 29 or 30 |
### Javanese Solar Year
The months of the Javanese Solar Calendar is shown in the inner center. Like the Gregorian calendar months they are colored to show chromatically the progression of the year.
The Javanese solar year is divided into twelve periods (mangsa) of unequal length that correspond to the Solstices and Equinoxes. Its origin lies in agriculture practice in Java. The cycle begins near the June solstice, around the middle of the dry season in Java. The names of the first ten months are simply the ordinal numbers from 1 to 10 in Javanese language, although the names of the 11th and 12th months are unclear.
# Print the Calendar
### The EarthCycles calendar now in two sizes: larg
### Full format printing
The EarthCycles Calendar can be purchased as a PDF digital file. You can then take it to your local printer and asking them to print full color on photo paper.
The calendar now comes in two sizes:
* Art print: 79x84cm
* Poster print: 70x50 cm
For framing the document prints at 80 x 86cm for a final cropped display size of 81cm in height and 76cm across.
Of course, you can print the calendar smaller, but it will lose legibility.
### Tile Printing
If you don't have a large format printer near you, you can also ask for it to be printed on tiled A3 paper: 3 x 3 A3 sheets. The calendar can even be printed on tiled A4 sheets 4 sheets by 4 sheets across.
### Paper Please
Unfortunately, many printers are now favoring 100% synthetic (i.e. plastic) "paper". Please try to avoid this and request real paper. After all, the calendar is only for the next year!
### Fixed Perpetual Sizing
The same dimensions of EarthCycles calendar will remain consistent into the future. The final cropped display dimension of 79x84cm will be maintained so that calendar framing can be kept and reused
### Framing As Storage
Plan your framing for calendar storage by requesting a thick (deep) fram. This way you will be able to stack/store the calendars on top of each other and/or use the same framing you invest in, for the next year.
# About
Concept and Inspiration
Sinking with the Earthen cycles around us deepens our immersion in the systems of which we are an inextricable part.
Humans have long made sense of time using the natural cycles around us. For many of our ancestors, the perception of time was deeply connected to ecological and celestial phenomena. From a solar day to a solar year, from a lunar month to the return of a specific bird or the departure of a certain animal, the human experience of time has been anchored to Earth's cycles. Indeed, as our ancestors could anticipate and prepare for these cyclical patterns, societies gained resilience, ecological integration, and prosperity.
Alas, our modern calendar has grown more and more separate from the cycles around us.
Unfortunately, our modern calendar has become increasingly disconnected from the natural cycles around us. Our current calendars are largely based on the Gregorian system, which was instituted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII when the Church believed that the Sun (and the rest of the universe) orbited the Earth. Consequently, this system relies primarily on a few basic celestial cycles: the solar day and the solar year, with some consideration given to the moon.
This representation and experience of time is very different from that of other civilizations, particularly those that incorporated a wider variety of cycles into their daily, political, and spiritual lives. For example, the [Greeks](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279511854_Astronomical_and_mathematical_knowledge_and_calendars_during_the_early_Helladic_Era_in_aegean_frying_pan_vessels) the Mayans used the cycles of Venus as well as those of the moon and sun in their calendars. Meanwhile, other cultures incorporated the comings and goings of birds and animals into their cultural rhythms. For these cultures, the cyclical migrations of birds, animals, whales, and fish were often more significant than even the solar year.
Forest and terraces in the land of the Igorots: planting begins with the arrival of the Kilin bird. Angway and Maier observe that a culture's ability to contribute to ecological flourishing (such as the Igorots) can be correlated to its sync with ecological and celestial cycles. Photo Gladys Maximo.
The EarthCycles project draws particular inspiration from the Igorot culture of Northern Luzon in the West Philippines Sea. The Igorots centered their society around ecological cycles and an ecological ethos that values cyclical integration. Their worldview inspires the theory of [Earthen ethics](https://book.earthen.io) and the concepts of [cosmological character](https://book.earthen.io/en/patterns.html) and [cyclocentric society](https://book.earthen.io/en/kincentric.html) developed by Angway and Maier upon which the Earthcycles calendar is based.
The format of both the print and online EarthCycles calendars follows the long tradition of countless cultures to represent time in a circular format: from the dap'ay of the Igorots to the Aztec stone calendar, to Stonehenge.
The Earthcycles print calendar was developed in 2019. In 2023 the online EarthCal app was launched.
With a circular format, it is possible to represent cycles far more effectively than with a series of squares. Consequently, the EarthCycles calendar can illustrate various calendar traditions, the spin of the planets, and the cycles of various magnificent creatures.
By using this calendar, we can better understand our own planet and its solar neighborhood, aligning our moments with the great cycles that surround us.
And that's the vision of the EarthCycles calendar-- to make our spin around the sun that much more connected, immersed and meaningful.
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# Get the Calendar
The EarthCycles Calendar can be purchased on the GoBrik Regen Store:
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Or, the Calendar can be acquired through a subscription to Earthen.io
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