The Calendars
Helpful information toward a better understanding of the calendar systems in Ancient Kemet.
(6th Dynasty Old Kingdom Tomb of Mereruka ca. 2345 BCE)
Unlike today’s dating methods where we count the years in sequence from a fixed historical point, the Remetch began calculations from a king’s ascension to the throne. Using this system in the United States of America, we would refer to the year 2016 AD as “Year 8 of President Barak Obama” rather than 2016. The dating method was commonly expressed in the form of: the year 
 followed by the number, the month 
followed by the number, the season followed by the name, the day, and the royal titulary which includes the name of the king.
The Year
Dates in the reign of a king were usually presented as: 
HAt-sp « regnal year ». It is composed of the signs 
+ 
+ 
. The sign  can represent the words rnp « year », snf « last year », or HAt-sp « regnal year » which itself is the first sprout from a root or seed with a bud attached to its side. This is usually followed by the number of the regnal year, for example 
HAt-sp 3 can be translated as “regnal year three.”
The Seasons 
The year ( , rnpt, ‘renepet’) was divided into three seasons ( , tr ‘ter’): (1) 
Axt ‘akhet’ « inundation » (2) 
prt ‘peret’ « emergence » and (3) 
Smw ‘shemew’ « harvest ». The quality of harvest depended on the annual inundation of 
Hapy ‘Hapy’ « the Nile River » which corresponded to the heliacal rising of 
spdt ‘sepedet’ « Sirius Star ». Sepedet is visible in the Nykemet night sky for most of the year, but during a period of about seventy days in late spring it does not rise above the horizon; then, in mid-July, it reappears above the horizon just before sunrise. This event occurred once every solar year and was called 
prt spdt ‘peret sepedet’ « emergence of Sepedet ». The year began on the first 
hrw ‘herew’ « day » of the first 
Abd ‘abed’ « month » of the Axt ‘akhet’ « inundation » season. The first day of the year was called 
wpt rnpt ‘wepet renepet’ « opening of year » and was celebrated with a festival called 
wpt rnpt Hb ‘wepet renepet heb’ « opening year festival ».
Months and Days 
Each season was divided into four months ( Abd ‘abed’) of three weeks called decans (
sbAiw Spsw ‘sebayu shepsew’), with each decan or week divided into ten days ( sw ‘days’). The months have names but were commonly referred to by their numbers and the season in which they fell. Months and days were given in three parts: (1) the sign 
(Abd ‘month’) followed by a number from 1 to 4 (2) the name of the season and (3) the sign 
(sw ‘day’) followed by a number from 1 to 30. For example: 
Abd 3 Axt sw 10 “third month of inundation, day 10.” The following table lists the names of the months first attested in the Middle Kingdom as they were designated in the region of 
mn-nfr ‘Men- Nefer’ « enduring and beautiful », “Memphis.” Each month is named after a festival that occurred in the following month:
| 1 |  |
txy | He of the Plumb-bob” (an epithet of Thoth) |
| 2 |  |
mnxt | Clothing |
| 3 |  |
xnt Hwt-Hrw | Voyage of Hathor |
| 4 |  |
nHb-kAw | Apportioner of Kas |
| 5 |  |
Sf-bdt | Swelling of Emmer-Wheat |
| 6 |  |
rkH-aA | Big Burning |
| 7 |  |
rkH-nDs | Little Burning |
| 8 |  |
rnnwtt | Rennutet” (goddess of the harvest) |
| 9 |  |
xnsw | Khonsu |
| 10 |  |
xnt-xty prty | Khentekhtai-perti (a god) |
| 11 |  |
ipt-Hmt | She Whose Incarnation Is Select |
| 12 |  |
wpt-rnpt | Opening of the Year. |
In the New Kingdom most of these month-names were changed, in many cases to reflect festivals celebrated in the region of 
wAst « Waset » “Thebes.” The new names survived into Coptic and are still used in the religious calendar of the Coptic church:
| 1 |  |
DHwty | Djehuty | ⲑⲟⲟⲩⲧ |
| 2 |  |
pA-n-ipt | The one of Karnak | ⲡⲁⲟⲡⲉ |
| 3 |  |
Hwt-Hrw | Het-Heru | ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ |
| 4 |  |
kA-Hr-kA | Ka Upon Ka | ⲕⲟⲓⲁϩⲕ |
| 5 |  |
tA-aAbt | The Offering | ⲧⲱⲃⲉ |
| 6 |  |
pA-n-pA-mxrw | The one of the censer | ⲙϣⲓⲣ |
| 7 |  |
pA-n-imn-Htp | The one of AMENHOTEP | ⲡⲁⲣⲙϩⲟⲧⲡ |
| 8 |  |
pA-n-rnnwtt | The one of Rennutet | ⲡⲁⲣⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ |
| 9 |  |
pA-n-xnsw | The one of Khonsu | ⲡⲁϣⲟⲛⲥ |
| 10 |  |
xpA-n-int | The one of the wadi | ⲡⲁⲱⲛⲉ |
| 11 |  |
ipy-ipy | Selected | ⲉⲡⲏⲡ |
| 12 |  |
mswt-ra | Birth of Re | ⲙⲉⲥⲟⲣⲏ |
This combination of seasons, months, weeks, and days resulted in a year of 360 days however, the Remetch knew the full year consisted of 365 days. Five more days were added to the end of the year which was after 4 Smw 30 and before the beginning of the year which was 1 Axt 1 to compensate for the discrepancy. These fives days were called 
5 Hryw rnpt ‘5 heryew renepet’ « the 5 over the year ». Egyptologists call these days, Epagomenal (added) days. Each of these days was celebrated as the birthday of a particular divinity: (1) 
mswt wsir ‘mesewt wesir’ « birth of Ausar » (2) 
mswt Hrw ‘mesewt herew’ « birth of Heru » (3) 
mswt stx ‘mesewt setekh’ « birth of Set » (4) 
mswt Ast ‘mesewt aset’ « birth of Auset » and (5) 
mswt nbt-Hwt ‘mesewt nebet-het’ « birth of Nebt-Het ». The first of the year also being celebrated as 
mswt ra ‘mesewt ra’ « birth of Ra ». This constituted the 365 day Civil Calendar.
Hours 
Each day was divided into 24 hours ( wnwt ‘wenewt’) with 12 for the day ( hrw ‘herew’) and 12 for night (
grH ‘gereh’) with the day beginning at sunrise. The difference between the words sw ‘sew’ « day » and hrw ‘herew’ « day » is the latter deals with the literal daylight hours and the former deals with a complete 24 hr cycle used in dating formulas. Hours may be further divided into moments or minutes called 
At « moment ».
Summary
There were two calendars in use throughout the history of Kemet: The Civil Calendar and The Religious Calendar. The civil calendar functioned mainly for administrative purposes. The Civil year was called annus vagus (“the wandering year”) by the Romans because of its characteristic feature of wandering across the seasons. There is no correspondence between the “seasons” of the Civil calendar and the natural seasons. In fact the Civil year is not always fixed to the same days nor to the same seasons, but it goes backwards across the natural seasons (and also across the Religious calendar), due to the difference of days with the cycle of the sacred star Sirius/ Sothis. The civil calendar was based on a year of 360 days with five added days inserted between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. There were ten days to a week, three weeks to a month, four months to a season, and three seasons to a year. The dating method was commonly expressed in parts: the year, the month, the season, the day, and the royal titulary which includes the name of the king.
In this example we have: 
HAt-sp 2 “regnal year 2,” 
Abd 2 Axt “second month of inundation season,” 
sw 15 “day fifteen.” The remaining signs represent the Royal Titulary.
The following is an overlay of the 2015 – 2016 Kemety Religious Calendar with the correspondences to the Gregorian Calendar
| Season | Glyphs | Name | Duration | Gregorian Correspondence |
| Season of Akhet | Axt | 4 Months | Inundation – Flood | |
| 1st month of Akhet | |
txy | 30 Days | Aug 14th 2015 – Sep 12th 2015 |
| 2nd month of Akhet | |
mnxt | 30 Days | Sep 13th 2015 – Oct 12th 2015 |
| 3rd month of Akhet | |
xnt Hwt-Hrw | 29 Days | Oct 13th 2015 – Nov 10th 2015 |
| 4th month of Akhet | |
nHb-kAw | 30 Days | Nov 11th 2015 – Dec 10th 2015 |
| Season of Peret | prt | 4 Months | Emergence-Sowing | |
| 1st month of Peret | |
Sf-bdt | 30 Days | Dec 11th 2015 – Jan 9th 2016 |
| 2nd month of Peret | |
rkH-aA | 29 Days | Jan 10th 2016 – Feb 7th 2016 |
| 3rd month of Peret | |
rkH-nDs | 30 Days | Feb 8th 2016 – Mar 8th 2016 |
| 4th month of Peret | |
rnnwtt | 29 Days | Mar 9th 2016 – Apr 6th 2016 |
| Season of Shemew | Smw | 4 Months | Harvest | |
| 1st month of Shemew | |
xnsw | 30 Days | Apr 7th 2016 – May 6th 2016 |
| 2nd month of Shemew | |
xnt-xty prty | 29 Days | May 7th 2016 – Jun 4th 2016 |
| 3rd month of Shemew | |
ipt-Hmt | 29 Days | Jun 5th 2016 – Jul 3rd 2016 |
| 4th month of Shemew | |
wpt-rnpt | 30 Days | Jul 4th 2016 – Aug 2nd 2016 |
- Apr 5th 2016 is the last day of the year according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 6th 2016 is the Birth of wsir/Osiris according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 7th 2016 is the birth of Hrw/Horus according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 8th 2016 is the birth of stx/Set according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 9th 2016 is the birth of Ast/Isis according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 10th 2016 is the birth of nb-Hwt/Nephthys according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Apr 11th 2016 is the first day of the New Year and the beginning of the 417th year within the Great Year of Ra according to the current Kemety Civil Calendar cycle.
- Jul 24th 2016 is the day of the Heliacal Rising of Sepedet (Sothis, Sirius Star) at mn-nfr Memphis.
The following is an overlay of the 2016 – 2017 Kemety Religious Calendar with the correspondences to the Gregorian Calendar
| Season | Glyphs | Name | Duration | Gregorian Correspondence |
| Intercalary Month | |
Dhwty | 29 Days | Aug 3rd 2016 – Aug 31st 2016 |
| Season of Akhet | Axt | 4 Months | Inundation – Flood | |
| 1st month of Akhet | |
txy | 30 Days | Sep 1st 2016 – Sep 30th 2016 |
| 2nd month of Akhet | |
mnxt | 30 Days | Oct 1st 2016 – Oct 30th 2016 |
| 3rd month of Akhet | |
xnt Hwt-Hrw | 29 Days | Oct 31st 2016 – Nov 28th 2016 |
| 4th month of Akhet | |
nHb-kAw | 30 Days | Nov 29th 2016 – Dec 28th 2016 |
| Season of Peret | prt | 4 Months | Emergence-Sowing | |
| 1st month of Peret | |
Sf-bdt | 30 Days | Dec 29th 2016 – Jan 27th 2017 |
| 2nd month of Peret | |
rkH-aA | 29 Days | Jan 28th 2017 – Feb 25th 2017 |
| 3rd month of Peret | |
rkH-nDs | 30 Days | Feb 26th 2017 – Mar 27th 2017 |
| 4th month of Peret | |
rnnwtt | 29 Days | Mar 28th 2017 – Apr 25th 2017 |
| Season of Shemew | Smw | 4 Months | Harvest | |
| 1st month of Shemew | |
xnsw | 29 Days | Apr 26th 2017 – May 24th 2017 |
| 2nd month of Shemew | |
xnt-xty prty | 30 Days | May 25th 2017 – Jun 23rd 2017 |
| 3rd month of Shemew | |
ipt-Hmt | 29 Days | Jun 24th 2017 – Jul 22nd 2017 |
| 4th month of Shemew | |
wpt-rnpt | 29 Days | Jul 23rd 2017 – Aug 20th 2017 |
Responses