TIME
TIME
Once in Gethen the year may change. Depending on where you are, you may be living in two different times. One of Orgoreyn, one of Karhide.
We can tell the progress of the years by two ways:
In Orgoreyn, as it is for the most part here on Terra, the Orgota count their years from a prodigious event that coined a fragment of history. This special event is the Birth of Meshe, their most important religious figure, which starts the counting, in 144-year cycles. And from this point: Year One unfolds in the direction of the future. Even though this system is strictly cultic and not officially employed by the Orgoreyn government, it is still current.
Unlike Terran and the Orgota, in Karhide, it does not matter. Whatever the day of your arrival, it will always be in Year One. Since it is always Year-One there. The current time is always known by this way. With the arrival of the New Year, the year that ended is taken as the year-ago, and the one-to-come becomes Year One, from the unitary Now. — A thing that represents a great inconvenience, if you are interested in record-keeping, or tracing historical facts. For this you should keep reference to well-known events; reigns of kings, dynasties and local lords.
YEAR
---MAP INSIDE BY URSULA K. LE GUIN.
MONTH
No matter which, Year One or the 2202, Praise to the nine hundred Throne-Upholders; it will always be 14 months for each year.
With the moon and the sun revolving so orderly, the lunar calendar and the solar calendar unfolds in almost perfect tempo. It takes some 200 years for an adjustment to be needed. So the days of the month and dates of the moon's motion do not vary.
DAY
No matter which, Year One or the 2202, Praise to the nine hundred Throne-Upholders; in any of the 14 months of the year, each will be subdivided into two halfmonths of 13 days.
In Karhide, are the days of the month that receive names; on Terra, we give names only to the days of the week. For this, the reddish moon of Gethen plays a key role on its nomenclature, because many of these names indicate the position of the lunar phases. And there are only 13 of them, composing the total of 26 days month. To the remaining half it is added the prefix OD, which at the beginning of the name points to its opposite state, thus giving a contrary meaning.
Getheny could be translated as something like: darkness. So in Odgetheny we are in non-darkness.
HOUR
No matter which, Year-One or the 2202, Praise to the nine hundred Throne-Upholders; in any of the 14 months of the year; subdivided into two halfmonths of 13 days, whether light or dark; the hours run within a cycle of 10.
Approaching to the system used on Terra, it is similar to two periods with 12 hours each. (More as a guideline, so it can help you to understand their clock). Where each hour in Gethen is equivalent to 2 hours or 2 hours and half of what we have here by 1 hour. As long as the duration of the day in Gethen is slightly different, counting with only 23.08 Terran Standard Hours. The Sixth Hour being what is known for midnight.
