A new era must have its own calendar!

  1. Proclaim a new era and set up a new calendar.
  2. Replace alien language.
  3. Destroy or neutralize alien gods.
  4. Destroy alien machinery of government control.
  5. Take wealth and land from individual aliens.

-- william-s-burroughs

During the French Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was replaced with the French Republican Calendar to break from monarchy and religion. It began in 1792 (Year I) and renamed months based on natural, rural cycles—like Vendémiaire (grape harvest), Brumaire (fog), Germinal (sprouting), etc.

Weeks were replaced with 10-day décades, and Sundays were abolished to erase Christian time. It was a radical attempt to rationalize and politicize time—literally reprogramming the calendar in line with revolutionary ideals.

Temporal détournement:

A New Calendar

GREGORIAN
ERA TIME


Origin: 1 Vendémiaire, Year I of the New Era

How the Era Calendar works:
Each year has 8 states of 45 days each (360 days total): CRACK, SPILL, PATTERN, ERROR, MERGE, ROT, GLOW, VOID. The remaining 5 or 6 days are intercalary chaos (not shown here). Each day is also part of a repeating 6-day creative loop: INPUT, CUT, ASSEMBLE, DISTORT, PUBLISH, ERASE. "Year I" starts at the French Republican Year I (1792-09-22). The display shows the current era year, state, day of state, and creative loop phase. The Gregorian date is shown for reference. This system is designed for poetic, creative, and non-linear timekeeping.

Examples of historical dates in the Era Calendar: (Calculated from Era Year I = 22 Sep 1792)

Parker Birdie

A growing garden of thoughts

(function () { const box = document.getElementById("era-calendar"); if (!box) return; // You can set whatever "origin" you like here: // Year I starts at French Republic Year I (approx 1792-09-22) const origin = new Date("1792-09-22T00:00:00Z"); const now = new Date(); const msPerDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000; const diffDays = Math.floor((now - origin) / msPerDay); // Your fictional system: // - 8 "states" of 45 days each = 360-day year // - rest is "intercalary chaos" but we’ll just wrap for now const states = [ "CRACK", "SPILL", "PATTERN", "ERROR", "MERGE", "ROT", "GLOW", "VOID" ]; const yearLength = 360; const eraYear = Math.floor(diffDays / yearLength) + 1; const dayOfYear = ((diffDays % yearLength) + yearLength) % yearLength; const stateIndex = Math.floor(dayOfYear / 45); const stateDay = (dayOfYear % 45) + 1; const stateName = states[stateIndex]; // 6-day creative loop const loopLength = 6; const loopNames = ["INPUT", "CUT", "ASSEMBLE", "DISTORT", "PUBLISH", "ERASE"]; const loopNumber = Math.floor(diffDays / loopLength) + 1; const loopPhaseIndex = ((diffDays % loopLength) + loopLength) % loopLength; const loopPhase = loopNames[loopPhaseIndex]; box.querySelector(".era-line--era").textContent = "ERA " + eraYear + " · YEAR OF INTERRUPTION"; box.querySelector(".era-line--state").textContent = "STATE: " + stateName + " · DAY " + stateDay; box.querySelector(".era-line--loop").textContent = "LOOP " + loopNumber + " / " + loopPhase; })();