origin of weeks

[Roko Joko]

Any thoughts on what could be the mythical origins of the 7-day week in Gloranthan calendars?

[Pentallion]

One for each hit location.

Animals have different hit locations and so age differently than humans.  Thus we remark how old Sparky is in Dog years.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Pentallion

[jajagappa]

On 9/27/2016 at 4:13 PM, Roko Joko said:

Any thoughts on what could be the mythical origins of the 7-day week in Gloranthan calendars?

The Lunars might claim that it simply the interaction of the 6 elements and the 7th soul with the power runes and the cycling of the seasons that gave birth to the 294 children of Time.

[soltakss]

The Seven Directions, North, South, East, West, Up Down, Inward.

The Seven Lightbringers.

The days are named after the 5 Elements plus Wildday and Godday, so that might offer some clues.

[Pentallion]

There were 8 days originally, but Trickster ate one of them.  Now it's known as a crappy day.  Crappy days can happen at any time.

[Mankcam]

I love this rationale for crappy days. I'm using it to explain real life heh heh

[David Scott]

The Gold Learners are the likely source of this basing system, likely the result of magical experimentation. Before then, holy days named the days and these were likely determined by the stars, tally keeping or just varied. There would have been numerous local versions before this. It's likely they determined the week pattern and naming as well. We are just assuming that the number of days in a year has been constant...

[Zit]

Since seasons are related to Elements and weeks to Powers, why are days to related to Conditions ? I'm afraid these 7 day week are an intrusion of the RW into Glorantha.

[Tindalos]

The first five days of the week are connected to the elements. On those days the elemental power in question is more potent (on Freezeday, darkness magic is easier to perform, for example)

Then comes Wildday, full of untamed magic. This day is dangerous, and often Chaos is more potent at this time (hence why the Telmori change on Wildday)

On the last day, Godsday, the barrier between the Godswar and the material world are thinner, this allows for worship ceremonies to be more powerful, and  for messages to easily reach the gods.

 

Of course, this is merely the Theyalan calendar. The Dara Happans have a ten day week (My guess would be each day is associated with the Celestial Court, so you'd have Harmonyday, Loveday, Beautyday, Joyday, Truthday, Growthday, Entertainmentday, Athleticsday, Artday, and Aetherday.)

Meanwhile the Pamaltelan calendar used by the Doraddi has 6 days, although I have no idea about their origins.

[Roko Joko]

^ I didn't know that.  The question is a little less interesting (BUT STILL FASCINATING) if it's not 7 days everywhere.  So maybe Dara Happans have 10 hit locations.

[M Helsdon]

The Theyalan calendar and the order of its days is in part a reiteration of the order of creation of the elements: darkness, water, earth, light, storm. The names and number of these days are fairly solidly set in the mythic infrastructure of Theyalan cultures. This leaves the other two... As Wildday seems to reflect the Predark it ought to precede darkness, but perhaps instead it reflects the order in which the universe started to break down and is a relic of when Chaos entered the world in the Gods War. Godsday might then reflect the Compromise the Gods agreed to.

In this scheme (which seems a bit God Learnerish) the days of the week reflect the major mythic events of Glorantha, as viewed within Time: the division of Darkness from the Void; the division of Water from Darkness; the rising of Earth amidst Water; the ascension of Light from Earth; the birth of Air between Earth and Light; the birth of Chaos and finally the Compromise of the Gods.

For the Dara Happans, the days might be named for the Eight Celestial Sons of Yelm plus two, the Ten Planets, as ten is the perfect number in Dara Happan culture.

[Roko Joko]

Come to think of it there are only so many options if you like nice round numbers.  294 = 2*3*7*7, or 2*2*2*5*7 + 14 days sacred.

But ^ and ^^^ yeah, Dara Happans and Theyalans count 4 and 5 elements and the same number of seasons, and Vithelans 6 from creation age myths, so once you divide the calendar into seasons, you can see how the size of each week can follow, without necessarily a lot of additional mythology.

You could also note how the Theyalans revere 7 lightbringers.  It doesn't fit in some ways, but I like it.