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The Norse Calendar

 Unlike our modern Gregorian calendar, the year was divided into two seasons only: Summer and Winter. Although the Sun had a pretty important role in their lives, Vikings used the moon phases to keep track of time, from new moon to new moon, dividing the year into 12 months of 30 days and four extra days every 4th Summer called the Sumarauki, to account for leap years.




Here are the names of the different months and seasons of the Norse “wheel of the year”:

  • Náttleysi (nightless days or Summer months):
    • Harpa (mid-April to mid-May): the first month of the year, probably named after a forgotten goddess or mythical creature.
    • Skerpla (mid-May to mid-June): probably named after a forgotten goddess as well.
    • Sólmánuður (mid-June to mid-July): its name translates to “Sun month” and it’s the brightest time of the year.
    • Heyannir (mid-July to mid-August): or “haymaking”. It’s time to harvest the hay.
    • Tvímánuður (mid-August to mid-September): it means “two months”. This might refer to the two months left of Summer.
    • Haustmánuður (mid-September to mid-October): the Autumn month and time to harvest and get ready for the hard winter months ahead.

  • Skammdegi (short days or Winter months):
    • Gormánuður (mid-October to mid-November): or “slaughter month”
    • Ýlir (mid-November to mid-December): also known as “Yule month”. The origins of its name aren’t clear, but it seems to be related to the celebration or to “Jólnir”, one of the names of Odin.
    • Mörsugur (mid-December to mid-January): its name translates to “fat sucking month”. Animal fat was very important to survive the hard Scandinavian winters when nothing else grew from the land.
    • Þorri (mid-January to mid-February): or “frozen snow month”. Its name may come from the god Thor (Þor) or the Norwegian king called Þorri Snærsson.
    • Góa (mid-February to mid-March): literally “Góa’s month”, who was Þorri’s daughter and a winter spirit.
    • Einmánuður (mid-March to mid-April): meaning the “lone month” or “single month”, probably referring to the fact that this is the last month of winter.

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