Ehrenfest Calendar

The Ehrenfest Calendar operates on a system of days, weeks, months and years. However, there are some critical differences that set it apart from Earth calendars. Most notably, there are 12 months in a year, 5 weeks in a month, and 7 days in a week, for a total of 420 days in a year.

Time is measured in bells rather than hours, but each day is still approximately 24 hours long.

The country of Yurgenschmidt and its duchies do not count their years in a single continuous system like Anno Domini on most parts of Earth, but instead uses a system that splits time into eras based on the rule of the kings, similar to how Japan measures their time in the eras of their Emperors.

The seven days of the week are Waterday, Sproutday, Fireday, Leafday, Winday, Fruitday, and Earthday. They are named after the sequence of how plants grow from season to season, with Earthday representing the fallow land in winter. Equivalent to Earth's Sunday, Earthday is a day off for most professions other than soldiers and priests.

The five weeks in each month are named the Week of Water, the Week of Fire, the Week of Wind, the Week of Earth, and the Week of Life, after the Eternal Five gods in Yurgenschmidt's religion. Each season lasts approximately three months, but that can vary depending on how hard the gods are working.

Commoners rarely posses calendars, but most workplaces are fitted with a board that has five columns and seven rows of holes, with the columns indicating the week in the month and the rows the weekdays. A wooden peg is put into the hole corresponding to the current day, so workers can plan ahead and know when the next Earthday is.