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This week is more Exposition Island. We meet a few more Molyneux, Toby tries to escape, we get to see Cait’s life about 13 years or so before the present. But what I’m interested in talking about today is the number 23.
I’m sure at this point you’ve noticed 23 come up a couple of times. The first is that Chou’s on his “third cycle.” This means that, turning 46, he enters the third 23-year cycle of his life (Birth to 22 was the first, 23 to 45 is the second). This is an important birthday. He is becoming an entirely new person. All of their 23rd birthdays were treated with such excitement and celebration, and when they reach their fourth cycle, at 69, they’ll get the same treatment. It should be noted that those that reach their fifth cycle, at 92, are revered and known all over the Islands because of their long life and, thus, their wisdom.
But why 23? It’s because of the moon. More specifically, it’s because the moon completes one full cycle around Ta Ante every 23 days. And so the lunar calendar, the calendar of the Islanders, is based off of this 23 day month. The Continentals use the solar calendar, in which a year is 361 days. So Ta Ante orbits the sun every 361 days, but if you do the math, 23 days times 15 months falls short by 16 days, and 23 times sixteen days falls long by 7 days. So the Islanders compensate with long and short years, and 16 and 15 months. I won’t bore you with the order of the long years and short years, but they jump ahead and fall short of the solar year over and over until, 23 years in, they zero out.
23 days in a lunar month. 23 years of long and short corrections. And so the number 23 has become important to the Islanders.
So the short answer is “the moon.” The longer answer would be “tradition.” But, you know, that’s something else entirely.
As always, your questions and comments are totally welcome.
[g]
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Tags: anthro, boat, Boat Story, commentary, fiction, web fiction, weblit, YA
Boat Story 012 Notes
Oct 6th, 2009 by grantcravens
New reader? Start here.
Back to Part 011 Notes – Forward to Part 013 Notes
This week is more Exposition Island. We meet a few more Molyneux, Toby tries to escape, we get to see Cait’s life about 13 years or so before the present. But what I’m interested in talking about today is the number 23.
I’m sure at this point you’ve noticed 23 come up a couple of times. The first is that Chou’s on his “third cycle.” This means that, turning 46, he enters the third 23-year cycle of his life (Birth to 22 was the first, 23 to 45 is the second). This is an important birthday. He is becoming an entirely new person. All of their 23rd birthdays were treated with such excitement and celebration, and when they reach their fourth cycle, at 69, they’ll get the same treatment. It should be noted that those that reach their fifth cycle, at 92, are revered and known all over the Islands because of their long life and, thus, their wisdom.
But why 23? It’s because of the moon. More specifically, it’s because the moon completes one full cycle around Ta Ante every 23 days. And so the lunar calendar, the calendar of the Islanders, is based off of this 23 day month. The Continentals use the solar calendar, in which a year is 361 days. So Ta Ante orbits the sun every 361 days, but if you do the math, 23 days times 15 months falls short by 16 days, and 23 times sixteen days falls long by 7 days. So the Islanders compensate with long and short years, and 16 and 15 months. I won’t bore you with the order of the long years and short years, but they jump ahead and fall short of the solar year over and over until, 23 years in, they zero out.
23 days in a lunar month. 23 years of long and short corrections. And so the number 23 has become important to the Islanders.
So the short answer is “the moon.” The longer answer would be “tradition.” But, you know, that’s something else entirely.
As always, your questions and comments are totally welcome.
[g]
Back to Part 011 Notes – Forward to Part 013 Notes
Tags: anthro, boat, Boat Story, commentary, fiction, web fiction, weblit, YA
Posted in Boat Story, fiction, writing