Calendar systems & names

A calendar system is the tradition the whole calendar counts in. The real days never move. The system you choose gives them its own months, years and week.

#Where it is

Hold the gear ⚙ to open the settings book, then go to settings › "time & directions" › "calendar system". "names as" sits directly below it. The rest of that page is on Time & directions.

#The sixteen systems

They are offered in this order:

"gregorian", "chinese", "korean", "vietnamese", "hebrew", "hijri · umm al-qura", "hijri · tabular", "persian", "vikram samvat", "indian national", "ethiopian", "coptic", "julian", "thai", "japanese", "bahá'í".

#Choosing one — any but "gregorian" (Gold)

Each system is a chip. The chosen one wears a tick "✓", not a tint, because the app does not lean on colour alone.

• "gregorian" is free.
• Every other system needs Zenith Gold. Its chip carries "✦", the gold spark that marks what Gold opens. Tapping it opens the Gold offer instead of choosing the system.

If Gold ever lapses, a system you already chose stays switched on.

#How exact it is

Under the chips, one of three lines tells you how exact the chosen system is:

Two systems name their own limits:

• "bahá'í" follows published dates to 2064, and a Tehran sunset calculation after that.
• "hijri · umm al-qura" is the published table. A month that begins with the sighting of the crescent moon can differ by one day.

#"names as"

This sets how the tradition's own words are written. There are three choices:

• "romanization" — the words in Latin letters.
• "translation" — the words' meaning in English.
• "original script" — the tradition's own writing.

One choice covers the months, the day names and the year words. It is kept when you move between traditions.

The whole "names as" section is hidden while "gregorian" is chosen, because its words are already English.

"translation" is greyed out for a tradition whose months carry no meaning of their own. It is shown greyed so you can see there is nothing there, rather than an option seeming to be missing. A name with no agreed meaning keeps its romanization rather than an invented translation.

"original script" is left out where the phone has no font for that script. Empty boxes would be worse than no option at all.

#Right to left

Names in Hebrew, Arabic and Persian read right to left when you choose "original script". Each name is laid out in its own script inside its line.

The screens themselves stay left to right on every phone. That includes every view, both widgets, and every sheet, menu and box on top of them.

#What else follows from the choice

Choosing a system changes the whole calendar:

• Dates and titles. Every title and date line uses the chosen system's words, with the Gregorian date small beside it. You see this on the big date, the day brief (the day's list) and a commitment's page.
• The week and month. Their columns and cells count the system's own day numbers.
• The years. The years ladder names each rung in the system.
• The year ring. The system's months are laid along the earth's real orbit. A tick marks each month's first day, with the name mid-month. A stronger tick marks the system's own new year. So a lunar year shows its next new year arriving before the ring closes. See The year & the years.
• The week's first day. The week begins on the day that tradition keeps. Your own choice comes back when you return to "gregorian". See Time & directions.
• Day-name letters. They become the tradition's own names, shortened so all seven stay distinct.
• How far you can travel in time. 1900 to 2200 on "gregorian". 1900 to 2100 on every other system, because each is built and checked to 2100.
• Repeats. A monthly, yearly or weekday-of-the-month repeat made while a system is chosen counts that system's months and years. It keeps its own system, whichever you choose later. See Times & repeats.

#See also.

Time & directions · Times & repeats · Zenith Gold in the calendar · The year & the years