Klingon Calendar

[qoSagh]

I have discussed this previously under the "Day of Honor" thread, but since I have begun to revisit my previous work I thought I'd start a new thread. I am begining to work on the Klingon calendar that I started. I realize however that there is much research that will be needed. These forums are usually a good place to start such work. Has anyone ever heard of names for The Klingon days or months?

I have a calendar format all worked out, but so far the months are simply numbered and the days have not been named. I now have 9 days in each week, but an earlier version had 8 days in a week. I am looking for any references to these names that anyone has found. I realize that some of those references, if they exist, will not match my format, but that can be worked out later.

 

[TlhngQa]

There is no need for "week" in Klingon calendar. nor there is a need for months. simply days are numbered. and special days can be called by the event on that day. such as day of ...  

[qoSagh]

There is most certainly a need for days, perhaps not named ones, but so one knows when a given collection of hours is over and the next one starts. The same would go for months, being a collection of days. Without months December 31, 2004 would be (Nothing) 365, 2005. Without days the math would be staggering, not impossible but inconvenient to say the least. Also special days, could have floating dates, which would mean that not every year would have the same dates in it. While Christmas is always celebrated on December 25, Labor Day is the First Monday in September, which could fall anywhere from the 9/1 to 9/7 in a given year.

I have also realized that my calendar system needs to start in a year, so I can work out the current years calendar. I am thinking 1967, as I have New Years Day as the Day of Honor. But there is always room to work from.

[Kesvirit]

Anyone interested in formulating a Klingon Calendar should view ngabwI's HovpoH and calendar system as an example. Among other things he has chosen 1/1/870 C.E. to begin his calendar, and has calculated a normal year as having 13 months of 21 days each, with every fifth year a leap year with three extra days and every millenial year having six extra days.

There is no need for "week" in Klingon calendar.

There may not be a need for it, but there is a precedent. thingan Hol includes a word for it -- {Hogh} (scroll down to the post with the subject heading "Re: Tonight, this morning, etc."). This does not necessarily mean that the unit of a week is widely recognized or used. The decision of whether or not to include such a unit lies with whomever undertakes the project of calculating a workable calendar.

-=- Kesvirit

[qoSagh]

Yes, that is a good site, I came across it from another link (I think it was from these forums) in the dark time when I had stopped working on the project. Sadly since so little information is avalible, so much of the calendar needs to be imagined.

My goal originally was to twofold, to designate Klingon holidays (or atleast qaptaQ holidays) and to have a date system that while seeming Klingon enough, would be easy to use by Klingon fans. That lead to a 365 day calendar so that dates would match up for east conversion. Since I had the dates of the holidays first, I put them on the calendar, and used them to seperate the months. One month ended up too long asthetically so I broke it in the middle. By dumb luck that ended up giving me 10 months, which fit in with Conversational Klingon. As for weeksw, without them the calendar would be too long to carry around.

Now, Like I said come the naming of the days and months. If in fact I can fiind any source (cannon or not) that has mention of these. I think the months should be named, I don't really thing the days need names. Names should mean something so I want to search out good or propper ones. After all there is no time limit on this project. Klindom has been without my calendar forever already, I am not so egotistical that I think everyone is waiting with baited breath.

[Klythe]

Any talk of calendaring should also factor in the historical and current situation on the homeworld.   Qo'noS has (or rather HAD)  at least one moon.   It is likely that it had an orbital period about Qo'noS shorter than Qo'noS has about it's star.   So they probably used that for jar "months" or maybe even Hogh since these are rough translations.   Maybe there was another moon, one moon marked the Hogh the other marked the jar.   Alternately, a jar could be marked by the convergence of the two moons.

    The Klingon Calendar is probably a millenia older than the Gregorian Calendar.  Before then if I recall correctly the terrans used the Julian Calandar, which like the earlier Roman Calendar didn't have weeks, just three named days a month, thekalends(on the first), the nones and the famous ides(All months had ides, not just March, and they fell on the 13th, or 15th day of the month).   The other days were just counted backwards from the next named day.     The seven day week was introduced by the Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century AD.

    This raises a question.  Did the Klingons change their callendar in recognition of the loss of praqSIS?

    I think the most important thing is not to get caught up in terran thinking about months and weeks.   Let's talk about jar and Hogh instead.   (I use bold typeface to indicate tlhIngan Hol because it is spoken 'boldly'.   Feel free to use any convention that pleases you, such as Kesv's Curlybraces.)

    Names don't always have to mean things, and if they do, there is nothing to say anyone remembers what they ment...   The meaning of a name is the existance of the named thing.   Newer names tend to have other meanings, bot really old names tend to lose the old meanings as the political winds change.   If Norway was still a major geopolitical player, we probably would still have Woden's Day, instead we have Wednesday.   If a month was named after Kahless, it would remain Kahless's month, but if there was one named for Emporer Keth, would be eventually (or maybe quickly) lose or change meaning when the promonence and influence of his House declined.  
 
    Things that are important to the plot I tend to name something that hints something to the reader.   All other names, I make up by sound alone.

[Klythe]

Klingon for the Galactic Traveller in fact states that the Klingon calendar does not have equal months.  In fact it's a bit more specific, it says something like no time period of five jar is the same as any other five jar.   A very interesting requirement for designing a canon-compliant Klingon calendar, if that is what you wish to do.   (I'll verify what it says exactly next time I have the book in front of me.)

[qoSagh]

Ahhh yes, I found the measly paragraph in KGT. A bit hard to find at first. Well at least I now have the words day, month & year, which although not being the same as terran terms, tell me that they at least exist. Interesting that Conversational Klingon mentions atleast 10 months, and Klingon for the Galactic Traveler mentions periods of five months. This leads me to think that the months must be in multiples of five, and that there must be at least 2 groups. So with 10 months mine is compliant until the next book comes out. Although I have a feeling there might be 15 months (or more). My months ended up at various lengths but not by design. I first ended up with 9, but split one really really long one into two reasonably shorter ones. That gave me the 10 I now have.

While I realize that days are different lengths on different planets, in order to make a fandom workable calendar I had to stick to terran times. If the days were longer or shorter than 24 hours, the changeover would be different every day. That would lead to confusion when a day had more than one dawn or dusk in it. And that would happen with terran hours. Imagine Klingon hours (if such a thing exists) and how that would cause havoc here on earth.

While a truely Klingon Calendar would be a thing of beauty, it would serve no purpose except academically. A terranized version that could circulate among fandom/Klingon clubs could at least be used to some extent. I have increasingly become of the opinion that Klingon creations should be able to be shared among fellow Klingons.

[q'Rhahk]

Ah well, so what you really want is a calendar that feels Klingon in nature but tracks to the Terran calendar in some way?  It would be nice to get some confirmation before I go too far with such a project.  One thing that works in our favor is that we don't have any cannon astronomical data to line up to (apart from there being a “moon of Praxis” which suggests to me that there is probably more than one moon) so it can be as full of academic BS as you would like.

Also, since we don't really need it to do more than be convenient, we can put in whatever fudge factors we want.  For example, we could say that the actual Klingon year happens to be 364.9207 days long and we can just reset the calendar with some leap time at the end of the year.

Probably the easiest way to work it out would be to have a list of known cannon time divisors and then hang the academic BS on that.  For example, Alexander's birthday was the 49th of something.  I can work that by having a moon that orbits the homeworld by some time that is just a bit over 49 days.  

Then too, we can take a page from some ancient Terran calendars.  The only significant astronomical divisors in our calendars are the lunar and solar cycles.  Yet we have seven days in a week.  I could probably google the reason why that is but I would bet that it goes back to some ancient civilization hanging mystical significance on the number seven.  We can do the same thing and make anything work out to whatever we want it to.

So what do we know going into the project apart from Alexander's birthday?  You tell me and I can make up an obscure reason for anything.

[q'Rhahk]

I think the most important thing is not to get caught up in terran thinking about months and weeks. Let's talk about jar and Hogh instead. (I use bold typeface to indicate tlhIngan Hol because it is spoken 'boldly'. Feel free to use any convention that pleases you, such as Kesv's Curlybraces.)

I like the way you are thinking.  It keeps us from getting wedded to the system that we only want to touch on.

Looking further, it occurs to me that if the answer to the original question of this thread existed, someone would have dug up the names of the time divisors a long time ago.  So if the information is not out there already, we can just make up some names in the usual fashion.

Also, thinking more on the matter, there is an easy way to reconcile the Galactic (5 month) and Conversational (10 month) systems.  People are probably better off not having to wade through some of the web sites that I googled for calenderical information but there have been quite a few attempts to develop a constructionist calendar with a handful of new math used to prove the virtue of changing stuff around.  If the Klingon calendar followed along similar lines we could do the following:

Starting with ten months of thirty-six days, we end up five short of a year.  What we do is put the extra days in by having odd months have thirty-six days and even months thirty-seven.  Then we can call {jar} a “short month” of which there are ten of two different lengths and {Hogh} a “long month” of which there are five equal ones.

If we follow that convention, then Alexander's birthday would have been on 49 {Hogh} and some other day in the ten month system.  That would do for a quick and dirty calendar that has 365 days.  However, it is far to clean for my taste.  It doesn't take any note of astronomical significance into account.  Also, I happen to be a big fan of saying that everything we do is done for ancient reasons.

Personally, I would prefer to write up some fake astronomy that would result in a workable calendar that has a few odd features built in.  The more obscure it is the better to keep the kuves confused.

[qoSagh]

Well after doing some further research, I see that my belief that jar come in multiples of five may have been erroneous. KGT actually says that a perios of five jar is not equal to a period of five months. All we really know from the book is that a DIS is not the same length as a terran day, ect. Given that all the measurements are different, computing an actual calendar from QonoS would require data that we just don't have a reliable source for.

Now since my original concept was to develop religious holidays for use within my own club, the thought occurs to me that religious calendars need not be based on either solar or lunar movement. They can be based at least partially on important events which happened in the history of the religion. This makes it easier to be creative, but also means that such a calendar would technically no longer be part of "stellar sciences" as such. It would also mean I think that no calendar would translate easily to a multi world empire. That is probably why stardates were invented in the first place.

Remember time zones were created so that the train schedules of different railroads would match up, to make trans continental travel easier.  

[SoplaHtaHwI']

Newer names tend to have other meanings, but really old names tend to lose the old meanings as the political winds change.   If Norway was still a major geopolitical player, we probably would still have Woden's Day, instead we have Wednesday.

The difference between Wodan's Day and Wednesday is not somuch a loss of meaning (the old meaning has been retained by history) but indeed a change of Lingua Franca (international language of choice, as I understand it).

Similarly, Kahless' Day could possibly change to Kethday, if the language of choice {ta' Hol} so caused it to morph, maybe over time.

I'm wondering if, to come back to the actual thread, the seeming importance of three on {Qo'noS} and in {tlhIngan Hol} would need to be included in the forming of the calendar system. (I realise this also might have changed over time)

[Klythe]

Starting with ten months of thirty-six days, we end up five short of a year. What we do is put the extra days in by having odd months have thirty-six days and even months thirty-seven. Then we can call {jar} a “short month” of which there are ten of two different lengths and {Hogh} a “long month” of which there are five equal ones.

    Switch the terms around.  jar areroughly translated as months while Hogh are analogous to weeks.  Still the off by a day probably doesn't really justify two different words...  not without a really good story, and probably a third word for a period of time containing one jar and one Hogh.

While a truely Klingon Calendar would be a thing of beauty, it would serve no purpose except academically. A terranized version that could circulate among fandom/Klingon clubs could at least be used to some extent. I have increasingly become of the opinion that Klingon creations should be able to be shared among fellow Klingons.

    I understand where you are trying to go with this...  But it would probably just be better to devise a system of Klingon stardates, instead of Klingon calendar.   It is a subtle distinction, but ne that will free you from the particulars of the astronomical particulars of the homeworld.  That way you will avoid purists(like me) balking at the idea of the homeworld having a 365 day year.  

    It is generally assumed that the Klingons 'borrowed' the base ten counting system.   Why wouldn't they 'borrow' a 365/12/7 calendar for use in delaing with hyoomins, while maintaining thier own calendar...

[qoSagh]

As for Klingon Star Dates, I am reminded of the stardate method that was widely used when I started in fandom. Based on nothing other than the terran calendar, many fanclubs used the format of stardate 9912.15 to express December 15, 1999. This was hampered by three developments. FASA added a numberal to the front which I believe designated centuries making the format X/1234.56. TNG made the stardates an extra digit long, which did not merge well with the terran calendar which did not stop fans from using the fan created format. Then of course the terran calendar went back to a year ending in 00 as it does every hundred years. This would lead to stardate 0002.07 for today. I am not so sure that looks good or works within what little we know about stardates. That is why I want to stay away from the stardate aspect of time keeping.

Converting dates to stardates by such a simple system is in the same category with converting 55 mph to Warp 5.5 and highway exit 23 to starbase 23, as was common among fans from the northeast who all traveled together to a convention in the mis atlantic a few years ago. CB radio was used as subspace (this was before cell phones were popular and inexpensive).

As for a 365 day calendar, I can create any reason why the length is what it is, letting the fact that it matches up with the terran calendar be an accident as such. None of my months will match up with terran months, so it is not like there will be that much similarity. I have also come up with a new way of locating holidays so that they have more relation to the Klingon date than to the terran date of the event. The terran calendar rotates every 14 years, mine will rotate every 18 years, so there will be very little matching other than the begining and end of each year.

As for 24/7, well that's not even an issue. First of all I have a 9 day week, so I guess that would make it 24/9. The 24 is simply so that midnight always falls the same place. Until we start holding conventions and other Klingon events on other planets, we will need this conversion factor, if only so that dates don't change in the middle of single day events.
 

[q'Rhahk]

I understand where you are trying to go with this...  But it would probably just be better to devise a system of Klingon stardates, instead of Klingon calendar.   It is a subtle distinction, but ne that will free you from the particulars of the astronomical particulars of the homeworld.  That way you will avoid purists(like me) balking at the idea of the homeworld having a 365 day year.  

 

Ah, a couple of points here:

First, I am not so sure the Klingons would even have star dates.  Going on pure guess work here, I would suspect that federation star dates exist due to the need to administer what passes for an empire.  What purpose they actually serve is known only to Roddenberry and if we could ask him, I am sure that he would have at least as many explanations as he did for the Klingon forehead.  

But back on earth a few hundred years ago, Europeans exported their calendar all over the world.  Today is February the 7th whether you are in China, New Guinea, Bombay or Baltimore.  I could see the Klingons doing the same thing to the races that they subjugate.  “The official calendar of the Empire is that of the home world and you had all better get used to it” or something to that effect.  Functionally, that is not even all that different from what the federation people do.  On first contact, each new race gets told about star dates and while they are free to do what they want to internally, guess which system the tax codes works off of?

Second, do we have a cannon source that says that the home world doesn't have a 365 day year?  In a galaxy as large as our own, one has to at least admit that the possibility exists.  

Then too, while I am not a proponent of the whole SETI thing, I am on the staff of a decently large computer support forums and I get the special joy of wading through the SETI@Home board looking for flame bait.  I am given to understand that there is good reason to assume that life as we know it can only evolve under a fairly narrow range of conditions and one of those is the orbit of a planet around its parent star.  So two races that can stand in the same room are going to have years of quite similar length.  Probably somewhere in the range of not less than 300 and not more that 500 days.

 

[Klythe]

First, I am not so sure the Klingons would even have star dates. Going on pure guess work here, I would suspect that federation star dates exist due to the need to administer what passes for an empire. What purpose they actually serve is known only to Roddenberry and if we could ask him, I am sure that he would have at least as many explanations as he did for the Klingon forehead.

    Do we Klingons lack the same need to administer our own empire?  You can't control space traffic, or figure out if you are going to make an offworld meeting without some system of Galactic timekeeping system, like StarDates.

   The purpose of a StarDate has always been to provide a Galactic reference time independant of local astronomical phenomena.   Curiously, StarDates vary in space and time, so 050210.6 is not the same time on Earth as it is on Rigel (My guess is it includes a correction for how far you are from spome point [possibly the Galactic Core] at Warp 30 in the TOS scale[the speed of subspace communications at the time].)   This 'correction' was the official explanation as to why the StarDates were out of order when episodes that were aired in a different order than they were produced.

I am given to understand that there is good reason to assume that life as we know it can only evolve under a fairly narrow range of conditions and one of those is the orbit of a planet around its parent star.   So two races that can stand in the same room are going to have years of quite similar length.

    Only if you assume all stars are the same size and emit the same amount of energy, and further assume that the planets rotate about thier axis at the same rate.   This is clearly not true.  

    From what I have gathered Qo'noS's star orbits a red giant that went supernova billions of years ago, destroying the planets that were in it's previous biosphere. Qo'noS had the good fortune to be in the new biosphere.   An older larger star like that will need to keep it's planets further away, giving them much longer years than younger stars, like our own.

Second, do we have a cannon source that says that the home world doesn't have a 365 day year? In a galaxy as large as our own, one has to at least admit that the possibility exists.

    As far as I know, we don't have any canon source that actually says they use a solar calendar.   We assume they do.  We further assume if they do, given the range of possibilities it is rather unlikely to have the same number of days per year.   That being said, I have no problem with a Klingon date system that is easy for terran fans.  But to say it is a calender implies certain astronomical assumptions where there is no canon to support them, and a good deal of common scene to refute them.  

    There is again an important fact to consider from canon.  When Praxsis exploded, it would reduce tidal effects, which may affect the length of the day.   The point being is that there are a lot of variables that affect the number of days per year, any one of them will change the number of days to be something other than 365.  It just does not make sense that two so vastly different planets would have the same days to years ratio.

    Roddenbery's biggest contribution to Science fiction writing for TV was that he always strove for believability.   And it just is not believable that any major planet picked at random will have the same number of days per year as Earth does.

As for a 365 day calendar, I can create any reason why the length is what it is, letting the fact that it matches up with the terran calendar be an accident as such.

    Convienent accidents and coincidences to me are merely excuses for lazy writting.  In any work of fiction you only get at most one convienent miracle, before you test the patience of the reader.   You've used two(365 day years and 24 hour days) in this system already.   Again this is fine if you just want something fun and informal to dress up mundane speech at a convention.   But if someone goes to all this work, someone is going to take it as source materialand use it in a story.   And demanding sci-fi readers are going to balk at it.

Converting dates to stardates by such a simple system is in the same category with converting 55 mph to Warp 5.5 and highway exit 23 to starbase 23, as was common among fans from the northeast who all traveled together to a convention in the mis atlantic a few years ago.

    Which is exactly what I thought you said you wanted at the start of this thread, a quick system fans can use without having to think about it.   I would strongly recommend creating either a fan system, keeping it consistantly simple and transparent throughout, or a well-reasoned scifi system that tries to work with as much canon material as possible including details like how the gravity of the homeworld  means the planet is larger, and that affects day length, etc, etc, etc.   In my experience, if you try to work to both these conflicting goals you will wind up with a system that is inconsistant and unsatisfying to either audience.

[qoSagh]

Yes there are needs to administer an Empire. That much goes without saying. I never really thought that Stardates being out of order was a big problem, unless there was a refference to a "later" episode in an "earlier" one. I remember hearing about the series Doctor Who a few years back that during the 6th Doctor the costume designers used to switch between two jackets and arrange pins differently to make stories appear out of order. I do not know if they ever worked out any complicated internal timeline, but they certainly left clues behind that implied one.

As for 24 hour days cropping up in fiction, I somehow doubt it. I have read many books that have taken place on many planets. Most of them do not specify the length of the day unless that is an important plot device. Most just specify a day as a day. It could be 20 or 50 hours long by eqarth standards, but largely irrelevant by literary standards. The same goes for years. If I read that a character was in his 37 year, it would not really matter how many days long each year had been. The concept is still roughly the same. Even a story taking place on New Years Eve, would likely ignore these complications unless they were vitaly important. I have every so often seen a reference thrown in for no reason, but without the background to accompany it. Such references are throuwn in largely for flavor. I remember a TNG episode where Riker was stuck in an alien hospital and the aliens ordered the building secured 28 hours a day. There was no mention of how long an hour was, but the point was well made.

My original concept was for a system that was reasonably easy to convert, but not a strict replacement system. My original post was simply looking for any canon names for days or months that anyone had come across, the debate on the calendar system took off from there. Remember there was even one post that said Klingons wouldn't have months or weeks, so there is an awful lot of room for interpretation here. I have never been that far from my original concept of something that was intended for fans to use on a larger scale than simply a writers bible.

[q'Rhahk]

Do we Klingons lack the same need to administer our own empire?

No.

Actually, I suspect that you missed the tone of the points that I was making.

You can't control space traffic, or figure out if you are going to make an offworld meeting without some system of Galactic timekeeping system, like StarDates.

“like star dates”  Of course but does it have to be fully compatible with the federation system?  If I am going to take the “purist” tack here, I would tend to believe that whatever the system is in the Empire, it was fully in place before contact with the federation had been established.  If you read my previous post further, I did advance a perfectly good system that meets that criteria.  It just was not a star date in the sense that the federation uses.

In keeping with the tone of my earlier post, I also would like to note that I did not insist that the home world must be thus-and-so but rather I asked why can't it be?  Quite the difference there.

And speaking of cannon sources, we are talking about TOS here.  We have a couple of possibly relevant cannon sources that I find to be interesting:

First is the planet that was populated by children who lived for hundreds of years only to die when they hit puberty.  If you recall, as the Enterprise approached the planet, they saw that it was visibly a duplicate of the Earth.

Second would be the planet where you had to stay there for a week or so to fully develop the local disease or face being turned into powder if you returned too soon.  As I recall, the Soviet empire won on that planet several centuries earlier and the barbarians (Kirk had to engage in single combat with the leader of the Yan'g tribe in the climax of the episode) were the survivors of the United States.  They even had the sacred document the called the E-plebnista which was in fact the Constitution of the United States.

Convienent accidents and coincidences to me are merely excuses for lazy writting.  *** But if someone goes to all this work, someone is going to take it as source materialand use it in a story.   And demanding sci-fi readers are going to balk at it.

Demanding sci-fi reader perhaps.  'trek fans?  They seem to think that the above mentioned sources are good enough.

Actually, I like to think of myself as a particularly demanding reader.  And the idea that the home world could be in orbit around a red giant that had undergone a supernova simply does not meet my test.  I could bore you silly with astrophysics but suffice to say that some things are possible and others are not.  The idea that the home world could exist in such a system is just about as probable as 2+2=11.  For especially large values of 2, that equation might be true but demanding readers will balk.


[Edit -- Attributed quoted text]

[Klythe]

“like star dates” Of course but does it have to be fully compatible with the federation system?

   I agree.  I never said it should be fully compatible.  Where did you get that idea?  I said 'like star dates', because I meant like stardates and not exactly the same as star dates.

In keeping with the tone of my earlier post, I also would like to note that I did not insist that the home world must be thus-and-so but rather I asked why can't it be? Quite the difference there.

   If you are presenting a calendar, the Klingon calendar, the one that the force on conquered people, then you really ought to at least admit you are strongly implying that it is.

And speaking of cannon sources, we are talking about TOS here. We have a couple of possibly relevant cannon sources that I find to be interesting:

   But that was exactly my point, with the one miracle rule.   These were the one big convient miracle that was the plot, everything else had to stand alone and be as probable and reasonable and logical as possible.  it also helped that these were throwaway worlds, instead of an important persistant world like the Klingon's homeworld.

the idea that the home world could be in orbit around a red giant that had undergone a supernova simply does not meet my test. I could bore you silly with astrophysics ...

     I am interested.  Could you start a new thread in the Klingon sciences section and explain it?

suffice to say that some things are possible and others are not. The idea that the home world could exist in such a system is just about as probable as 2+2=11. For especially large values of 2, that equation might be true but demanding readers will balk.

     You draw a bold metaphor, but you do not back it up.   They way I understand physics I find it much more probable  that a once ice cold planet could eventually redevelop an atmosphere and become hospitable to life as we know it than that two worlds at random would have the same orbital period.    Will you explain where my understanding of physics is lacking?

[Kehlan]

It seems to me that the original question was aboutnames of months etc.  If thats the case, we are told that Alexander Rozhenko was born on the 43rd day of Maktag.  I don't know if Maktag is a month but it is obviously supposed to be a recognised period of time.  If not a month it could be something like Lent or Ramadan (but maybe not on a moveable basis).
Anyway, its the only definite information I know of.

Kehlan

[qoSagh]

I had also gone with the idea of Maktag being a month, and when I worked out t the months, I did end up with the tenth month having more than 43 days, but then I came across the idea that Maktag was a season. Although I can not see seasons and months both being used a day reference points, simultaneously. In human measurements, the only days of the seasons we seem to know about are the first (and by default) the last. Not that Klingons have to be the same, but I've never met anyone who was born on the 15th of spring.

[Klythe]

    For the record, Ramadan is a month, the 9th month of the arabic calandar.   Lent is a 45 day 'season' leading up to Easter.   Although I haven't heard anyone say it (My state is pretty secular).  People could very well claim to have been both on the 3rd day or the 43rd day of Lent.   So it could go either way I think.   I should check out who worf said that to and see if I can figure out why.   I'm guessing that Maktag is a jar.  Whatever that is.

[qoSagh]

I am also inclined to go with Maktag is a jar theory also, however it could also be a group of five jarmey

In human terms, months seem to be a bit more regular than season, especially religious seasons. Since Easter is not always on the same day, and lent ends on Easter, it follows that Lent is also somewhat fluid. Not that Klingons have to observe the same rules, but one who celebrated a birthday on the 12th of Lent might not always be a year older each year.

[Kehlan]

I did say something like Lent, but that doesnt move.  It doesnt even have to be a religious thing - I just used it as an example of a time period that is known to us that is not actually a month