View source for Runic calendar

{{short description|Perpetual calendar based on the 19-year-long Metonic cycle of the Moon}}
{{Refimprove|date=June 2011}}
[[Image:Sami Runic Calendar studied by Eirikr Magnusson published 1877.jpg|thumb|300px|Younger furthark runic calendar.]] 
[[File:Ancient runic calendar from Sāmsala.jpg|thumb|300px|Runic calendar from the Estonian island of [[Saaremaa]] with each month on a separate wooden board.]]
A '''[[Runic]] calendar''' (also '''Rune staff''' or '''Runic almanac''') is a [[perpetual calendar]], variants of which were used in Northern Europe until the 19th&nbsp;century. A typical runic calendar consisted of several horizontal lines of symbols, one above the other. Special days like [[solstices]], [[equinoxes]], and celebrations (including [[Christianity|Christian]] holidays and [[feasts]]) were marked with additional lines of symbols. 

Runic calendars were written on [[parchment]] or carved onto [[wikt:stave|staves]] of wood, bone, or horn. The oldest one known, and the only one from the [[Middle Ages]], is a staff from [[Nyköping]], [[Sweden]], believed to date from the 13th&nbsp;century. Most of the several thousand which survive are wooden calendars dating from the 16th and the 17th&nbsp;centuries. During the 18th&nbsp;century, Runic calendars had a renaissance as antiques, and runic calendars dating from around 1800 were made in the form of brass tobacco boxes.

==Marks==
On one line, 52&nbsp;weeks of 7&nbsp;days were laid out using 52&nbsp;repetitions of the first seven runes of the [[Younger Futhark]]. The runes corresponding to each [[weekday]] varied from year to year.

On another line, many of the days were marked with one of 19&nbsp;symbols representing the 19&nbsp;[[Golden numbers]], for the years of the [[Metonic cycle]]. In early calendars, each of the 19&nbsp;years in the cycle was represented by a rune; the first 16 were the 16&nbsp;runes of the [[Younger Futhark]], plus three special runes improvised for the remaining three years. The new moon would fall on that day during that year of the cycle. For example, in the 18th&nbsp;year of the cycle, the new moons would fall on all the dates marked with ''tvimadur'', the symbol for year&nbsp;18. Later calendars used [[Pentadic numerals]] for the values&nbsp;1–19.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align=center"
|-
| Arabic || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19
|-
| Golden Numbers || {{runic|ᚠ}} || {{runic|ᚢ}} || {{runic|ᚦ}} || {{runic|ᚬ}} || {{runic|ᚱ}} || {{runic|ᚴ}} || {{runic|ᚼ}} || {{runic|ᚾ}} || {{runic|ᛁ}} || {{runic|ᛅ}} || {{runic|ᛋ}} || {{runic|ᛏ}} || {{runic|ᛒ}} || {{runic|ᛚ}} || {{runic|ᛘ}} || {{runic|ᛦ}} || {{runic|ᛮ}} || {{runic|ᛯ}} || {{runic|ᛰ}}
|}

Because this system needed 19&nbsp;[[Runic alphabet|runes]] to represent the 19&nbsp;[[golden numbers]] which stood for the 19&nbsp;years of the perpetual calendar's cycle, the [[Younger Futhark]] was insufficient, having only 16&nbsp;characters. The solution devised was to add three special runes to represent the remaining numbers: [[Image:arlaug.svg|x20px]] (''arlaug''; Golden Number&nbsp;17), [[Image:tvimadur.gif|x20px]] (''tvimadur'' or ''tvímaður''; Golden Number&nbsp;18), and [[Image:belgthor.svg|x20px]] (''belgthor''; Golden Number&nbsp;19). In 1636, [[Ole Worm]] documented the Younger Futhark numeral system, including these three characters, in his ''Runir seu Danica literatura antiquissima'' (''Runes: the oldest Danish literature'').<ref name="Worm1636">{{cite book|last=Worm|first=Ole|authorlink=Ole Worm|title=Runir seu Danica literatura antiquissima|language=Latin|trans-title=Runes: The Oldest Danish Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6olkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA102|accessdate=24 November 2020|year=1636|publisher=Typis Melchioris Martzan|location=Copenhagen (Hafniæ), Denmark|pages=102–103|chapter=XVIII: Literarum Danicarum potestas ac valor in numeris|trans-chapter=The Numerical Power and Value of Danish Letters}}</ref>

A version using the [[Latin alphabet]] for weekdays and [[Arabic numerals]] for the golden numbers [[Incunabula|was printed]] in 1498 as part of the ''Breviarium Scarense''.<ref name="Scarense">{{cite book |title=Breviarium Scarense |author=Brinolf Gerlaksson, bishop of Skara (commissioned by) |date=1498 |publisher=Georg Stuchs |location=Nuremberg |pages=2–13 |url=http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=655644&q=0 |accessdate=2010-06-20 |archive-date=2012-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906053652/http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=655644&q=0 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Primstav==
[[File:Primstav 2.jpg|thumb|right|110px|Primstav from [[Hallingdal]] with [[coat of arms of Norway]], 17th&nbsp;century.]]

A '''primstav''' is the ancient [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] calendar stick. These were engraved with images instead of runes. The images depicted the different nonmoving religious holidays. The oldest primstav still in existence is from 1457 and is kept at the [[National Museum of Denmark]].<ref>Dybdahl, Audun ''Primstaven i lys av helgenkulten : opphav, form, funksjon og symbolikk''. Tapir, 2011. ISBN 978-82-519-2564-8</ref>

== Modern use ==
Adherents of the [[Estonia]]n ethnic religion (''[[Maausk]]'') have published Runic calendars ({{langx|et|sirvilauad}}) every year since 1978. Until 1991, the calendar was an illegal ''[[samizdat]]'' publication under the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maaleht.ee/2009/01/08/kultuur/4151-sirvilauad-loevad-aega |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904002813/http://www.maaleht.ee/2009/01/08/kultuur/4151-sirvilauad-loevad-aega |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 4, 2012 |title=Sirvilauad loevad aega }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Computus Runicus]]
* [[Germanic calendar]]
* [[List of runestones]]
* [[Nationalencyklopedin]]
* [[Scythe sword]]
* [[Dominical letter]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |author=Becker, Alfred |title=A magic spell "powered by" a lunisolar calendar |journal=Asterisk, A Quarterly Journal of Historical English Studies |volume=15 |year=2006}}{{full citation|needs page numbers & doi number, etc.|date=September 2019}}
* {{cite book |author=Becker, Alfred |title=Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenkästchens von Auzon |location=Regensburg |year=1973}}{{full citation|publisher missing; ISBN|date=September 2019}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.gangleri.nl/articles/59/rune-calendars |title=An article on rune calendars, with illustrations |website=gangleri.nl}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.franks-casket.de/deutsch/extro02.html |title=Alfred Becker |website=Franks Casket}}

{{calendars}}
{{Germanic peoples}}

[[Category:Obsolete calendars]]
[[Category:Specific calendars]]
[[Category:Runology|Calendar]]
[[Category:Medieval runes]]
[[Category:Modern runic writing]]