African Cultural Calendar is similar to the calendars our ancestors, who built societies along the Nile Valley from Axum to Kemet, created. The same calendars were also used across our homeland in Ghana and Mali and south through Zimbabwe. The African Cultural Calendar is based on the history and culture of our people. The calendars that our ancestor created are at its foundation. In the Nile Valley, calendars had twelve months. Each of the month had 30 days. The African Cultural Calendar is similar; it has 12 months and eleven of those months have 30 days each. Another similarity between the calendars of our ancestors and the African Cultural Calendar is that the ancestors’ calendar had a five-day period at the end of the year for the celebration of the gods’ birthday. The ancestors didn’t work on those days. The African Cultural Calendar has a similar period of seven days. Those seven days are a renewal period for the transitions from the old year to the new year. It is named after the Africans in America holiday: Kwanzaa but it is a period when the old year transitions into a new year. The African Cultural Calendar envisioned, those seven days, to be a time for celebration, for family and for community.
In the Nile Valley, the year had twelve months with 365 1/4 days and it was divided into three seasons of four months each. This is a feature that the African Cultural Calendar emulated. The African Diaspora is worldwide, and we are in areas that have just two seasons like the Caribbean and areas which have four seasons, North America, Europe etc. Our ancestors based their calendars on their environment, recognizing only three seasons. Akhet was the first season in the year, and it included the first four months of the year. It was the season of the inundation and could be thought of as the wet season except instead of having six months it only had four. The four months were Thoth, Paophi, Hather and Choiak. The first four months of the Ancestors’ calendar were equivalent to: Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Nzinga in the African Cultural Calendar.
The year in the Nile Valley did not start on what would be considered January 1st, it was closer to the middle of July. The year in African Cultural Calendar is similar. It does not start on January 1st; it starts after the renewal period on what would be considered January 2nd. The African Cultural Calendar also thinks of the year as having three seasons. Although this is similar to what the ancestors had done, the initial reason for dividing the afriyear into three seasons was to try and represent the entire diaspora. Some parts of the diaspora have two seasons and other parts have four seasons. The average is three. This is the reason for three seasons in the African Cultural Calendar. It, however, allows us to further stand with the ancestors by using the names that the ancestors used for their seasons in the African Cultural Calendar. The three seasons in the African Cultural Calendar have the same names as the names of the seasons in the Nile Valley
The Ancestors’ calendar did not start on January 1. It was closer to the middle of the year in the colonial calendar. One of the differences between the ancestors’ calendar and the African Cultural Calendar is that the year in African Cultural Calendar starts closer to the beginning of the year in the colonial calendar rather than when the Ancestors started the year. This means that the first season in the Ancestors’ calendar Akhet is not the first season in the African Cultural Calendar. The first season in the African Cultural Calendar is Shenu, which was the name of the third season in the Ancestors’ calendar. The afrimonths in the first season in the African Cultural Calendar are Kemet, Nubia, Meroe and Axum. The names of these afrimonths were taken from the societies that our ancestors built in the Nile Valley. These societies are at the foundation of every African, no matter where in the diaspora he or she is.
Each month in the ancestors’ calendars had 30 days, so each season had 120 days. Following Akhet was Peret, spring or as the ancestors said, time when crops appear. Peret included the months: Tybi, Mechir, Phamenoth and Pharmouthi. It was the period after the inundation and included part of what would be considered fall and winter in northern hemisphere. The African Cultural Calendar defined Peret as the period covered by the afrimonths: Quilombo, Tubman, Yaa and Garvey. The season Shenu was the third season for our Ancestors, but it is the first season in the African Cultural Calendar. Shenu for our ancestors was a dry season. A time when the water in the Nile River was low. Shenu had four months: Pachons, Payni, Epiphi and Mesore. Shenu in the African Cultural Calendar is the first season because the afriyear starts at a different time than the year in the Ancestors calendar. In the African Cultural Calendar Shenu includes the afrimonths: Kemet, Nubia, Meroe and Axum. The three seasons for the ancestors had 360 days, the remaining five days were used for celebration. In the African Cultural Calendar, the three seasons: Shenu, Peret and Akhet have 358 days, the remaining seven days is the renewal period during which Kwanzaa is celebrated.
The renewal period in not considered a month. It is similar to the five-day period in the ancestors’ calendar for celebrating the gods. The year in the African Cultural Calendar ends on the last day of Garvey and then the old year transitions through the renewal period and the new year starts seven days later. In the ancestors’ calendars, days in the five-day period were named for the god whose birthday was being celebrated or the day took on the name of the festival. The African Cultural Calendar also has a similar feature. The days in the seven-day renewal period are named after that days’ Kwanzaa principle. The first day in the renewal period is called Umoja, the second day is called Kujichagulia, etc. instead of Monday, Tuesday, etc. The African Cultural Calendar is not like the calendars that are used today but it is very much like the calendars of our ancestors.