Day-count dating

Day-count dating is the system of giving dates as a count of days from 1 January 2020, which is Day 1. It was introduced by H&A in its records in 2027, after changes to the Earth's orbit made the length of the year irregular, and has since been adopted for official documents across the European Federation. A date is written as the word "Day" followed by the number, as in "Day 2,304".

Since the change, the year has been counted as one orbit of the Sun rather than as 365 days.

Background

From 2027 the gravity of the Iris made the Earth's orbit measurably elliptical, and the length of the Earth's year began to change. The year has since varied from one orbit to the next, and has been longer than 365 days, so that the seasons no longer fall in the same months and the Gregorian calendar no longer keeps time with them. The change in the orbit was confirmed and made public in 2028.

H&A gave as its reason that a calendar based on the year would need revising with each orbit, while the length of the day was unaffected.

Adoption

H&A's Records Division changed its documentation to day-count dating in 2027, and the rest of H&A followed within the year. Federation bodies adopted it in 2028, after the change in the orbit was made public, and the joint H&A-EF command has used it from its formation.

Events before the change are given day numbers retroactively in official documents: the EF Integration Agreement of 22 March 2022 is Day 812, and the Hyperbiology Leak of 22 April 2026 is Day 2,304. The first day of 2027 was Day 2,558.

Effects on records

The conversion of H&A's records in 2027 required the municipal registers of held territory, which had been kept in different calendar formats, to be converted into a single day-numbered format. The registers were compared for the first time in the process, and the comparison found several million ration entitlements in force for people who had died or left. The correction that followed, known as the Reconciliation, is the best-known consequence of the change.

Computer systems that stored dates by calendar month have been converted since 2027. Most kept the calendar date as a second field, and banks and employers continue to calculate interest, wages and rents by calendar month.

Seasons

As the months stopped matching the seasons, the five seasons defined by H&A's Hyperbiology Division from the activity of Beckons, Upspring, Fullbloom, Ingather, Fallow and Overwinter, came into civil use in place of the calendar's spring, summer, autumn and winter. Agricultural advice, school terms in several member states and the Federation's weather service have used them since 2028. Their length is measured each year rather than fixed in advance.

Usage

Official documents, contracts and military orders give the day number, and many give the old calendar date beside it. The year is still named in ordinary use, so that "2028" refers to the orbit following 2027's, but months and calendar dates no longer correspond to the seasons, and dates within a year are not used in official records. Most people continue to use calendar dates informally, for birthdays and holidays among other things. Public holidays, among them Founding Day on 19 September, are still kept on their calendar dates, and so fall in a different season from one year to the next. Day numbers are read aloud as plain numbers ("Day two thousand three hundred and four"), and in military use often by their last three digits alone.

See also

• Timeline of the Iris infestation
• H&A
• The Iris