Martian Dreams: Martian Timekeeping

This document is part of the Martian Time Boneyard. It was originally located at http://www.dalnet.se/~ripper/mars/campaign06.html.
Author: Anders Ström

Martian Timekeeping

With a year that is 668,6 days long, some sort of new calendar had to be invented. But the current martian calendar is basically a modified julian calendar.
The year is divided into 12 months, each with 55 or 56 days (except Capricornus which sometimes has 57 days).
Weeks are a standard seven days, meaning that a martian year has just over 95 weeks.
Even years have 668 days (Capricornus of 56 days), odd years has 669 days (Capricornus of 57 days).
Years evenly dividable by ten (10) also has 668 days, as has Mars Year 0.

The Martian Calendar
Month	Length
Sagittarius	56
Capricornus	56 or 57
Aquarius	56
Pisces	55
Aries	56
Taurus	55
Gemini	56
Cancer	56
Leo	55
Virgo	56
Libra	55
Scorpius	56

The Martian year

And since the Martian day is 37 minutes longer than the terran, an extra 37 minute period has been added at midnight.
(Martian clocks runs from 00:00 to 24:37)

Thanks to Tom Gangale for setting me right about Martian timekeeping...
Visit his excellent Mars Calendar Web Site for additional information and views of how to "do time" on Mars.

Martian Holidays
Some holidays are celebrated all across Mars, regardless of cultural backgrounds.
Mars Day: 4 Pisces, in remembrence to the first human on Mars.
Perhelion: 41 Leo, the closest point to the Sun (warmth is traditionally a good thing on Mars).
Wintertide: 51 Scorpius to 5 Sagittarius.

Timekeeping background
1 Sagittarius M0 (Mars Year 0) is synced to January 1st 2012.

Please note that I have taken some liberties with almanac and the martian way of keeping track of time. Tom Gangale has pointed me in the right direction for most of the errors, but for now the current calendar is 'canon', since I can't find the time to correct it.

Martian Dreams: The Martian Dreams Campaign