#we r having monsoon like weather over here and it's super cool we never have that usually

[cultreslut]

YOOOOO theres thunder and lightning outside

#we r having monsoon like weather over here and it's super cool we never have that usually #reminds me of memories when i used to visit mexico as a child and since it was the desert it rained #and there was this park that was shaped like a bowl and it didn't have proper drainage systems so it jusy flooded

[musetta3]

Some Musings on Thedosian Calendars

So in one of the Dragon Age server I’m in, the question of the Thedosian calendar came up. So I did some digging and analysis, and found some really cool correlations. Please note that these are my opinions, based on the Dragon Age Wiki and canon sources. There are many interpretations, not just mine <3 

Southern Thedosian Climate Thoughts

Thedas is, from what we understand, in the southern hemisphere of their world, for the sheer fact of south = colder, north = warmer. However, if we look at the Common names of the months, there can be 2 different interpretations

-1. Either Southern Thedas has climate like an IRL northern hemisphere, where Wintersmarch = January = winter weather/snow, and thus follows seasons that way. It's easy to consider it that way, because the 8th month in Thedas and Earth, match: they're both August (according to the wiki, this is carried over from when Andraste was named Augusta in earlier drafts of the game)

 -2. OR the Thedosian calendar year starts in, say, what we would consider summer in the IRL northern hemisphere/winter in the IRL southern hemisphere (such as IRL March) and then follows a southern hemisphere pattern of weather. Considering the Tevinters first set up the calendar, and the Roman calendar year starts in March, that can also be a consideration.

either of these methods can work. I personally use the first method in my longfic, The Songstress and the Swordsman, but, as stated above, there are many proverbial roads to Rome, and different interpretations.

As for the Southern Thedosian climate: from what we see in the games, there’s so many different climates present in DAI. So you can interpret it a number of ways, including: 

-visiting different regions during different time of the year. We know that DAI takes place over a period of time, so that’s not a stretch. ex: ‘I’m visiting the Hinterlands in the summer, and the Emprise in winter’

-The Frostbacks could act similarly to the Rocky Mountains  in the Pacific NW of the US, where one side is lush and green, and the other is dry prairie/grassland

-some areas could be affected by magic, which would also affect things in its own way

But, we can mostly agree that it’s relatively temperate in Ferelden and the Free Marches. There's some snow in parts of it. 

What of Tevinter/the North, though? That's where things get interesting.

Tevinter Calendar and Climate

Here is the calendar, directly from the Wiki

so let's break this down. Tevene shares roots in Latin, so I used Latin to translate this... 

 1: Spring-month/Wintermarch; celebrate First Day 

2: 'it rains' (from that Latin verb 'to rain')/Guardian; celebrate Wintersend 

3: 'hazy/ cloudy'/Drakonis 

4: Eluvium: sediment/rock debris formed from running water or rain/Cloudreach 

5: I strive/work (or, alternatively a tweak of 'melior' which is 'better')/Bloomingtide; celebrate Summersday 

6: Hot/boiling (from 'fervens')/ Justinian 

7: Sun (easy: sol for sun)/Solace 

8: Pertaining to matrons/married women (further push it to Mothers)/ August; celebrate All Souls Day 

9: Small (can be interpreted as ‘little ones’ or children)/Kingsway 

10: Grain/Harvestmere 

11: Shadowy/cloudy/Firstfall; celebrate Satinalia 

12: Hollow or empty/ Haring 

Notice that we have a clear period of 3 rainy months, 2 intense summer, a harvest, and then a cloudy, empty period of not much going on. This, to me, follows the typical climate found in India. 

If we ascribe to the first theory of 'Wintersmarch = January = Winter' I would consider SE India, where there are monsoons during the IRL winter months (speaking from a northern hemisphere perspective, at least) 

 If we use Theory 2 'Wintermarch = IRL March' then this aligns with the SW monsoon pattern during the IRL summer (again, northern hemisphere perspective <3 ).

I interpret it as this:

Guardian-Cloudreach: monsoon season 

Bloomingtide: super short respite, planting season 

Justinian-August: S U M M E R 

Kingsway-Harvestmere: autumn 

Firstfall-Haring: winter 

Wintermarch: super short spring

Could it be that it these names are simply cool names slapped onto the IRL Earth calendar? Possibly. However, the correlations are a bit too coincidental for me to rule that out completely.  

Tevinter Calendar, The Weather, and Holidays

I found some correlations between the Old Tevinter names of the holidays, and the translated month names in which they occur

Wintersend/Urthalis: dedicated to Urthemiel, the god of beauty. How does holding tourneys match up with 'beauty?' well, two ways: flex your political muscles and put on some epic pageants/events that are beautiful. OR celebrate this right before the monsoons start, when the weather is still 'beautiful.' Parts of Tevinter will become muddy and muggy, soon, definitely not pretty

Summersday/Andoralis: dedicated to Andoral, the god of unity. We celebrate this in Bloomingtide/Melior, or the 'I work' month. Andoral is the god of unity, so why honor him during this month? To unify together and plant before the summer comes 

All Souls Day/Funalis: dedicated to Dumat, the god of silence. this is a very interesting holiday, because after Dumat rose in the first Blight, Thedosians rededicated the holiday to remembering those who have passed. In the South, it represents Andraste’s death, coming from August (Augusta was, remember, an old name for Andraste before the devs switched it over). Bonfires are common, to represent Her pyre. In the Old Tevene, Matronalis is ‘pertaining to matrons/married women.’ Andraste is the Bride of the Maker, a married woman, and mother.

It’s interesting to note that in some Northern countries, people dress as spirits and parade down main thoroughfares at midnight. Is it a carry-over from Dumat’s celebration in the ‘dead silence of night?’ Perhaps!

Satinalia/Feastday: originally attributed to the god of chaos. Now. This is like... two letters off or something from the Ancient Roman Saturnalia, and bears some really close resemblances (not to the month name, this time). Wild celebrations, masquerades, gift giving: in some areas, like Antiva, it lasts a whole week! So a whole week of chaos! Epicness! It’s my favorite holiday, and I never attended it before <3 

It’s a good thing to note that the holiday got its name from Satina, the second moon. It could be that, during this time of year, Satina is really visible/prominent in the sky, hence why the holiday is named for it. 

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