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MEDIEVAL CALENDARS, DATES, TIME, HOLIDAYS:
The year was divided into 12 months as it is now with varying numbers of days in the months, as now (Jan/31, Feb/28, Mar/31, Apr/30, etc). The need
for Leap year was recognized and in fact 1100 was a leap year. However, the Leap Day was not added to the end of February, instead, the 24th of February was repeated. There were also 7 days to a week with the same names as we use now.
In the early Middle Ages, Europeans divided the day (daylight portion) into 7 hours of equal length. Presumably this was measured by sundial. Since summer days are longer than winter ones, a winter 'hour' was about 60 minutes, but a summer one was about 150 minutes. By the late 1300s, Europeans had mechanical clocks and often installed them in the towers of churches and town halls. Timekeeping devices for the era we are working with were limited to sundials, candles (marked), and the hourglass... besides noting the sun's position in the sky, of course. Naturally candlemarks would be a more consistent measurement of time, so long as the candles and marks were all about the same. Would assume the Chandler would see to that.
For feast, festival and holiday purposes, the year was generally divided by natural events, owing primarily to the profound impact of agriculture, nature and especially sunlight on all aspects of life. Many of the holidays we celebrate today were instituted long after this time period or are strictly religious in nature (christian/Catholic) and were not prominent at this time.
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- Winter Solstice (shortest day, longest night) aka Midwinter - on or about December 22nd
- Springtide also Brigid's Feast or Imbolc - February 1st (or 2nd, depends on resource)
- Spring Equinox or Ostara - on or about March 21st
- May Day or Beltane - April 30th into May 1st
- Summer Solstice (longest day, shortest night) aka Midsummer - on or about June 21st
- Lammas or Lunaghsadh begins Harvest - August 1st (alt spelling used for clearer pronunciation, originally Lughnasadh)
- Autumn Equinox or Maibon - on or about September 21st
- All Hallow's Eve/Day - October 31 into November 1st
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