holio zie nan / this folder contains: 


CALTA DABE TOLPA LO CVERA / THE BLACK ROPE ALMANAC.


>> (each folder has a date. open the folder on the relevant date) 


>> explanation:


18 January 2026 is the first day of Hanta Tolpa Cvera, Black Rope Year in the Damiá calendar. The Damiá calendar is a cycle. Smaller cycles within bigger cycles. It’s hard to know where to begin, because it can begin at any time. And when I try to begin somewhere, I find I am trying to explain in at least two directions at once: what comes before and what comes afterwards. And then, of course, what overlays what from one cycle to the next. So I try again. Get stuck again. Delete. Deep breath. Look, it’s not that complex. It should be easier than this. Words go in a line but the thoughts go round and round.


Maybe let’s get the things out of the way that are the same between the Damiá calendar and the one we usually use. Like the time. Twelve o’clock is twelve o’clock (or twenty-fourth hour, but don’t get distracted). The seven days of the week are the seven days of the week, going round and round and never stopping. Moonday, Fireday, Waterday, Thunderday, Ironday, Earthday, Sunday.


Ast iesti, ast aci, ast mai, ast comna, ast parta, ast meri, ast gotla


Iesti, aci, mai, comna, parta, meri, gotla,


Ie, a, ma, co, pe, me, go.


Now I’m definitely distracted. 


Let’s start again. Go step by step. We can stop and go back if it gets confusing. 


Damiá New Year begins on the first New Moon after the Winter Solstice. That’s the first thing to remember. So far so good? The Winter Solstice is when the old year ends. There is a gap between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. These are the Dark Days. A time for rest. A time when maybe it’s better not to start anything new. How many Dark Days are there? Well that depends on where the New Moon falls. It can be just a handful. Just enough time to catch your breath. Or it can be many. Long enough to submerge yourself in completely, wondering if they will ever end. 


New Year’s Day for Black Rope Year (for this Black Rope Year) is January 18th 2026. It’s the day we bake Twelve Cake. One special ingredient for every New Moon of the year ahead. The day we set intentions for the year ahead. Plans, even, if we feel ready. Make wishes. New Moon One, day one. 


But we don’t just call it ‘day’ one. 


We call it Waxing Moon 1. Dogai iaimén. The first day of dogai, the Growing Moon. And we count the days up to vai, to the Full Moon like that. There are usually fourteen or fifteen and then the Full Moon is the first day of tesca, the Waning Moon. Tesca Iaimén. Waning Moon 1, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 


Stop. Pause. Rewind.


January 18 — New Moon 1, Waxing Moon 1 — is the first day of Hanta Tolpa Cvera, the Black Rope Year. The last time there was a Black Rope Year was way back in 1977 and we won’t have another until 2075. I’ll be a hundred years old then. If I live to see it. Cycles of 49 years. 


Seven times seven. 


Seven objects: Tower, Bone, Horn, Wheel, Rope, Arrow, Drum.


Manai, nocca, too, ocoi, tolpa, bats, batta.


Seven colours: Black, White, Blue-or-Green, Yellow, Red-or-Purple, Orange-or-Brown, and No Colour At All. 


Cvera, sor, ar, cer, ores, harma, arsia.


Seven Black years, before that, Seven White Years, before that, Seven Blue-or-Green Years. Tower always followed by Bone, Bone always followed by Horn, Horn always followed by Wheel, Wheel always followed by Rope, Rope always followed by Arrow, Arrow always followed by Drum, then back to Tower again, but a different colour. You can start with Black Tower. Or you can start anywhere. 


I was born in a Black Horn year. We Black Year folks, we go through life together, kinda, hitting milestones within sight of one another. Preparing the way. Helping each other out. Egging each other on. We form a gang. A pack. A cohort. The older Towers and Bones take care of the younger Drums and Arrows. We Horns and Wheels and Ropes muddle along in the middle. You know how it is. We Horn People, meanwhile, we span generations. A web across the years. A web across the land, too. I imagine going to a new place, hunting out the Horn House where there would always be a bed for me and a bowl of soup. Someone to tell me what’s what. Someone who I can tell what’s what to. 


It’s not just a way of counting the years until you are 49 and you become az, a Wise Elder (irony alert). It’s a way of being connected, you see.


And it’s a way of thinking about things. Not predicting things. No horoscopes or any of that balderdash. But a focus. Maybe in a Tower year you want to look out to new horizons. Maybe in a Bone year you want to get back to the fundamentals of things. Maybe in a Horn year you call out to allies and friends, drawing them close. Maybe a Wheel year is about, you know, just doing it. Keeping going. If it’s a Rope year, maybe you want to tie things closer, think about the bonds between us all. Then there’s the Arrow. Let it fly and hit a target. Or miss. And then the Drum. Shout about it. Celebrate a bit. Or send a warning. Before it all begins again.     


Pause. 


I think we did well so far. But let’s go back to the Moon. You’ll always need to get back to the Moon.


The month starts with ool, the New Moon. Each month is even called a New Moon. New Moon 1, New Moon 2, like that. And then you count the days up to the full moon. Waxing Moon 1, Waxing Moon 2, and so on, up to Waxing Moon 14 or 15. Then Full Moon is Waning Moon 1, then Waning Moon 2, and so on. Wait. I already said this bit. But it doesn’t hurt to go over it again. What else?


Of course.


A Year has Four Corners. Calga. But which first? Cal tibróg. The Corner of Winter, when the night is longest and the day is shortest. That’s when the Old Year ends. Its first part always dipped in the Dark Days. Then cal gved, the Corner of Spring, when the night and day are the same length. Then cal cead, the Corner of Summer when the sun never sets. Then cal aggai, the Corner of Autumn when the day and night are the same again. Go to the other end of the Earth and you’d have to reverse it. Switch all that the other way around, of course.


And if it seems complex, well it is. And if it seems unnecessary. Well, it’s that too. But so is mist and fleas. Otters and pebbles. Tides and watercress. Birthdays and embroidery. And if it seems too much, just remember it was always too much. After all, 2026 is also 令和八 in the Japanese Calendar. 2026 doesn’t begin until 15 January in the Julian Calendar. In the Ethiopian calendar it’s only 2019, but not till November. The Chinese calendar marks new year on 15 February with the Fire Horse Year. A day after, the Tibetan Calendar starts year 40, cycle 17. In the Islamic Calendar, 1448 starts on 15 June. For the Hebrew Calendar, the first day of 5787 is 11 November. In the Aztec Calendar it’s Rabbit and Reed.


But today is always today. 


And tomorrow will always be tomorrow.


Camsa.
X


(Aslan, Jan. 2026)