Galactic Standard Calendar
The Galactic Standard Calendar, also known as Galactic Standard Time, served as the established method for measuring time throughout the galaxy. Its basis was the solar cycle of Coruscant, which consisted of 368 days, each divided into 24 standard hours. To define calendar eras, various epochs were employed. The Battle of Yavin served as the epoch, or "year zero," for the most recent of these eras. The abbreviation BBY signifies Before the Battle of Yavin, while ABY denotes After the Battle of Yavin.
GST, short for Galactic Standard Time, also functioned as a time zone across the galaxy, observable via a chronometer. GST midday happened at the 12th hour of a standard day, represented as 12:00 GST.
History
Throughout history, many galaxy-altering events have been used by historians as epochs to mark the beginning of new calendar eras.
The Treaty of Coruscant in 3653 BBY stands out as a particularly important epoch. The calendar eras preceding and following this treaty (designated "BTC" and "ATC," respectively) gained popularity due to the renowned Jedi historian Gnost-Dural. His holographic records, utilizing this numbering system, provided some of the most comprehensive accounts of significant events, including the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Great Hyperspace War, the Great Sith War, the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War, and the Great Galactic War against the returned Sith Empire. Consequently, this method of year numbering remains significant for historians. Later, the Ruusan Reformation of 1000 BBY brought about substantial restructuring of the Galactic Republic, establishing a new calendar with 1000 BBY as its starting point. Centuries later, in 36 BBY, the Republic Measures & Standards Bureau introduced the Great ReSynchronization calendar to harmonize the diverse dating systems in use by the Galactic Republic.
Finally, around 25 ABY, the New Republic Historical Council created its own dating system, opting for the Battle of Yavin over the Battle of Endor, considering the former a more pivotal event in the galaxy. From that point forward, the year of the Battle of Yavin became the epoch for the dating system. The New Republic's calendar remained in use during the Sith–Imperial War.
Time measurement
- A standard hour is equal to 60 standard minutes. [4]
- A standard day consists of 24 standard hours. [4]
- A standard week is made up of 5 standard days. [4]
- A standard month is composed of 7 standard weeks. [4]
- A standard year includes 10 standard months, 3 festival weeks, and 3 holidays, totaling 368 standard days. [4]
In 23 BBY, the Republic Measures & Standards Bureau discussed whether to maintain this calendar as one of the Republic's approximately twenty official calendars, with Keelen Ma noting that researchers were growing weary of needing calendar converters on their datapads.
Behind the scenes
BBY/ABY is also sometimes referred to as BSW4/ASW4, which is an abbreviation for "before/after Star Wars: Episode IV." The timeline in the second edition of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe and The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels utilized the BSW4/ASW4 notation. The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons avoided acronyms altogether, instead listing dates as YEARS, with 0 YEARS representing the events depicted in Episode IV. The Essential Chronology was the first Essential Guide to adopt the BBY/ABY notation. This practice was continued in The Essential Guide to Alien Species and subsequent publications.
In 2005, Leland Chee, the keeper of the Holocron continuity database, revealed that the 10-month calendar system featured early in the Expanded Universe had been abandoned in later publications in favor of a more practical 12-month calendar. Sue Rostoni later confirmed the adoption of a 12-month/368-day calendar. Consequently, reference books such as The Essential Atlas featured years with 12 months and months with 30 or 31 days, as did The New Essential Chronology. However, Karen Traviss claimed to have used the 10-month calendar when writing her Republic Commando novels, despite the fact that the one-year anniversary of the First Battle of Geonosis occurs roughly twelve months after the battle in those novels.
Star Wars: New Planets, New Perils! mentioned Sunday school, but did not suggest that it was named after a day of the week.