Calendar

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The calendar in Old School RuneScape has ten months, as revealed in Postbag from the Hedge issue 21.[1]

Postbag from the Hedge

Reldo responds to a submission in the 21st issue of Postbag from the Hedge:

Presently, we are in the 169th year of the 5th Age. The length of a day, of course, is equal to one cycle of the sun and the moon.

There are ten months in the RuneScape calendar. [...] An extra day is added to Moevyng every four years to account for an anomaly in the way the calendar has been calculated. Moevyng Day, as it is called, tends to fall in the middle of the month.

The most intriguingly-named month is the Ire of Phyrrys. My colleagues over at the Observatory have uncovered the charred remains of a diary that belonged to Phyrrys, apprentice to the astronomer Scorpius.

Early entries in Phyrrys's diary tell of how he was attempting to figure out the RuneScape calendar, based upon the astronomical studies his mentor was conducting. However, a few pages have survived of Scorpius's own diary, heavily hinting at Phyrrys's ineptitude, and how at the culmination of the apprentice's initial calendar research, he'd failed to account for a whole forty days.

This is backed up in Phyrrys's own diary entries, whereby from this date on, his anger (ire) seemed to grow and grow at his inability to work these forty days into the calendar. It is assumed that a later inhabitant of the Observatory found these notes and, quite easily, corrected the mistake by placing them between Septober and Novtumber, naming the month in honour (or more likely in jest) of the 'challenged' Phyrrys.

 
— Reldo [1]

Based on this information, the total number of days in the year is 365, which suggests that the Gielinorian calendar and the real-life Gregorian calendar indeed overlap.

Months of the year

The months according to the RuneScape calendar as used on Gielinor are:

Month Number of days Real-world equivalent Notes
1 Rintra 39 1 January – 8 February Tied for 2nd longest month with Novtumber and Moevyng on years with Moevyng Day.
2 Moevyng 38/39
(Moevyng Day)
9 February – 18 March There is an additional day in the middle of Moevyng every four years, called Moevyng Day, similar to a leap day.
3 Bennath 32 19 March – 19 April Bennath means "blessing" in Cornish. 2nd shortest month.
4 Raktuber 34 20 April – 23 May
5 Pentember 38 24 May – 30 June Named for its position as the fifth month. Pente (πέντε) is Greek for five.
6 Fentuary 31 1 July – 31 July Only month to solely encompass an entire Gregorian month. Shortest month.
7 Septober 38 1 August – 7 September Named for its position as the seventh month. Septem is Latin for seven.
8 Ire of Phyrrys 40 8 September – 17 October The longest month on the calendar, which is named after the apprentice of Scorpius, Phyrrys. Phyrrys began work on the calendar of RuneScape.
9 Novtumber 39 18 October – 25 November Named for its position as the ninth month. Novem is Latin for nine.
10 Wintumber 36 26 November – 31 December Named after winter; Wintumber trees are named after this month.

References

  1. ^ 1.0 1.1 Reldo. Postbag 21: "Somethingorotherwotsit". Letter 5. RuneScape Postbags from the Hedge. Jagex.