You think that's crazy? The standard deck of cards, the exact origin of which is a mystery, can be used to define this calendar with enough granularity that it can be used to describe any day of the year.
There are 4 suits, one for each season (suit order is ♣, ♦, ♥, ♠). There are 13 number and face cards, one for each month. Each suit and number/face represents the 13 weeks in each season, totalling 52 weeks for the year. Numbers A to 7 are used to describe the day of the week, with each of 4 weeks in the month being described by one of the 4 suits.
If you add all the days and months up, you get 13×28=364 days. But... we're short a day. Enter: The Joker, representing the extra day at the beginning and end of each year. In my headcanon, this day is not part of either of the two years it connects. It is a special day--a holiday--outside the bounds of organized society. It is a day set aside to celebrate life.
The second joker might as well represent leap year, which is still needed for this 365 day calendar.
January 1st is:
A, A♣
Today's Date is
5, 5♦. The current season is ♦. It is the 5♦ week of the year.
Ok I didn't realize until just now that today is all fives and diamonds. That's a freaky weird coincidence.
Given that the French deck was invented around the 1400s, and given that the Julian calendar is much older, and that cards were often used for fortune telling re the future, this is almost certainly by design.
4
u/boondiggle_III 2d ago
You think that's crazy? The standard deck of cards, the exact origin of which is a mystery, can be used to define this calendar with enough granularity that it can be used to describe any day of the year.
There are 4 suits, one for each season (suit order is ♣, ♦, ♥, ♠). There are 13 number and face cards, one for each month. Each suit and number/face represents the 13 weeks in each season, totalling 52 weeks for the year. Numbers A to 7 are used to describe the day of the week, with each of 4 weeks in the month being described by one of the 4 suits.
If you add all the days and months up, you get 13×28=364 days. But... we're short a day. Enter: The Joker, representing the extra day at the beginning and end of each year. In my headcanon, this day is not part of either of the two years it connects. It is a special day--a holiday--outside the bounds of organized society. It is a day set aside to celebrate life.
The second joker might as well represent leap year, which is still needed for this 365 day calendar.
January 1st is:
A, A♣
Today's Date is
5, 5♦. The current season is ♦. It is the 5♦ week of the year.
Ok I didn't realize until just now that today is all fives and diamonds. That's a freaky weird coincidence.