Time

It is always important to know the calendar, not only is timekeeping important, but there are festivals to observe and cultural connotations to the different months. As is only right and sensible, the year is divided up into ten months, which are as follows:

The Ten Months

March
The beginning of the year, the start of the campaigning season and sacred to Mars the God of War. 
Contains the unspeakable Ides. A month for war, sacrifice, and the slaughter. An auspicious month for great undertakings, the beginning of epic works, or to try and murder a god. Under the laws of heraldry this is the only acceptable month to declare war, and ongoing conflicts are often marked with the traditional rites of throwing a javelin into enemy territory (or more often a symbolic representation thereof).

The Zodiac of this month is Pisces

Aphril
The flowering month, sacred to Venus. A month of growth and new birth, also one of vengeance and the rites of combat. An auspicious moth for dueling (especially for love), marriages, and general affairs of the heart. It is also traditionally the month for ewes to lamb (however sheep do not care overmuch for tradition). The rite of flowers is often performed in this month.

The Zodiac of this month is Aries

Maia
Sacred to Bona Dea and an auspicious month to give birth. A snow white bull and a coal black bull are both slaughtered on the steps of the Capitoline Temple in Old Rhomarth and the organs inspected by the haruspices.* Newborn children are brought up to be anointed with the viscera to bring them fortune and guidance in their lives.

The Zodiac of this month is Taurus

June
Sacred to Juno, Queen of the Gods. Time of the Summer Solstice, the sun is high, the days are long, the trees are fruiting. Although this is a time of much agricultural work, in the cities it is often a time of revelry and masques. In the cities of Vincenzia and Saint Basil's Folly this month holds the nights of a thousand faces. A full week of festivals where all citizens wear elaborate masks that cover their identities at all times. The Great Masque is held at the end of the month, when all these vizards are removed at midnight. This festival forms the basis of many plays both farcical and tragic. If one wished to visit Zirkusburg at this time, it might be almost deserted.

The Zodiac of this month is Gemini

July
Sacred to the divine Julius. This month is auspicious for coronations to occur, and traditionally regnal years begin and end in this month. The festival of the Divine Julius is celebrated across many different lands, where it is traditional to drink wine, read poetry, and make promises and resolutions to be fulfilled before the next festival. It is also a time to deliver secret love notes and romantic gifts.

The Zodiac of this month is Leo

August
Sacred to the divine Augustus. This month is of great importance to the legal fraternity, a good time for new laws to be passed, for legal practitioners to become qualified, and for magistrates to take their offices. Most major polities still celebrate the festival of the divine Augustus as a rite of civic pride and an opportunity to retell the history of the city. Generally a dull affair interesting only to historians and self important civic officials.

The Zodiac of this month is Cancer

Tiber
Sacred to father Tiber and to the divine Tiberius. The great festival of the grain harvest falls in this month, a feast to celebrate the hard work done in the fields. Much beer is drunk and celebratory loaves are baked and eaten. Apples are dried, and vegetables are pickled often with accompanying fairs delivering prizes. This is also the time to pray for protection against floods, and for dykes, dams, levees, and other waterworks to be inspected and repaired.

The Zodiac of this month is Libra

Geist
The haunted month, the setting in of winter. The festival of ghosts and demons is held in this month to protect against their influences throughout the year. This is a time when the dead come forth from their graves, when the influence of witches is most potent, and when the powers of the supernatural are at their most puissant. It is a good time to attempt to commune with the dead, or to have a curse tablet made against your enemies. It is said in Old Rhomarth there is still yet a shadow cult that holds rites to the shade of the long forgotten Emperor for whom the month is named.

The Zodiac of this month is Virgo

Claudio
Sacred to the divine Claudius. A month of judgement and an auspicious time to have a legal case heard. The month begins with All Saint's Day and the cannon law courts hear the largest and most important cases in this month (before closing until the following year). This is an auspicious month to slaughter a hog, and a good time to cure bacon. In the northern parts of the Holy Empire the festival of Hogswatch takes place with a great feast of pork, ham, sausage, bacon, and bloodmeal.

The Zodiac of this month is Scorpio

Nero
The dead month, a time of burning and of the winter solstice and the end of the year. Sacred to the divine Nero. The major celebrations take decidedly different qualities. The rite of fires (seen as burning the poor fortune and sins of the past year) is in equal parts sombre and savage, great fires are lit and the graves of ancestors are visited; this happens on the date of the winter solstice. A week later comes Saurnalia and the Lord of Misrule; a chaotic celebration lasting anywhere between a day and two weeks (depending on social standing). Drunken debauchery, communal singing, and large scale pranks are regular occurrences.  Gift giving amongst families, especially to children, is common.

The Zodiac of this month is Sagittarius

Intercalary Months

There are also two months that do not belong to the year, but are still observed. Superstition holds that children born in these months are likely to be werewolves, be stolen by the fair folk, or harbour a desire to overthrow the state.

January
Sacred to Ianus the two faced God of Borders of endings and beginnings. The festivals of Ianus are necessary to separate one year from the next. Contracts are often signed and sealed this month, and plans and businesses agreed upon. The boundary stones are counted and measured in this month, as well as many polities taking a census of their citizens. Frost fairs and markets are held upon frozen rivers, and due to being not upon the land are by tradition are free of taxes and duties.

The Zodiac of this month is Capricorn

February
A time of festivals, the festival of Februum necessary to begin the new year in the coming month of March. Also contains the festivals of Lupercalia, Quirinalia, Feralia, Caristia, and Terminalia. Traditionally a month with little to no work and much rejoicing. This is an auspicious month to found a city, and the birth dates of cities are traditionally counted in this month.

The Zodiac of this month is Aquarius

*The continuation of this and other ancient pagan traditions is brought up in support of the removal of the Papacy from Rhomarth to Stonechurch. The ancient priesthoods and colleges of soothsayers are very much alive, although often sheltered by the aegis a cult of one Saint or other.