Calendars

The Wagon Peoples keep two calendars. One calendar is kept by the men, which relates to the seasonal migrations of the bosk. This calendar is divided into seasons, rather than into days, and runs from one Season of Snows to the next. Some years are longer than others, when measured in days.

"… the Wagon Peoples calculate the year from the Season of Snows to the Season of Snows…" — Nomads of Gor, pages 11-12.

A second, and far more complex, calendar is kept by the women of the tribe. It is based on the phases of Gor's largest moon, and is divided into fifteen (15) months. Each month is named after one of the fifteen (15) varieties of the bosk (i.e., The Moon of the Brown Bosk). This calendar functions completely independently from the calendar based on the snows, and the correlation between the two calendars is never the same each year. The visual representation of this calendar is a set of colored wooden pegs fixed on the sides of some of the wagons. A small disk, bearing the image of a bosk, is slipped over one of the pegs, its position dependent on what moon it is.

"A consequence of the chronological conventions of the Wagon Peoples, of course, is that their years tend to vary in length, but this fact, which might bother us, does not bother them, any more than the fact that some men and some animals live longer than others; the women of the Wagon Peoples, incidentally, keep a calendar based on the phases of Gor's largest moon, but this is a calendar of fifteen moons, named for the fifteen varieties of bosk, and functions independently of the tallying of years by snows; for example, the Moon of the Brown Bosk may at one time occur in the winter, at another time, years later, in the summer; this calendar is kept by a set of colored pegs set in the sides of some wagons, on one of which, depending on the moon, a round, wooden plate bearing the image of a bosk is fixed." — Nomads of Gor, page 12 (footnote).

The Wagon Peoples do not give numbers to their years. Each year is given a name, which is related to some happening of import that occurred during the past fifteen moons. These names are not written down, but are kept in the memories of free women known as Year Keepers. Some of these Year Keepers can recite the names of thousands of years. They, along with the Camp Singers, are the repositories of the Wagon Peoples history.

"The years, incidentally, are not numbered by the Wagon Peoples, but given names, toward their end, based on something or other which has occurred to distinguish the year. The year names are kept in living memory by the Year Keepers, some of whom can recall the names of several thousand consecutive years. The Wagon Peoples do not trust important matters, such as year names, to paper or parchment, subject to theft, insect and rodent damage, deterioration, etc. Most of those of the Wagon Peoples have excellent memories, trained from birth. Few can read, though some can, perhaps having acquired the skill far from the wagons, perhaps from merchants or tradesmen. The Wagon Peoples, as might be expected, have a large and complex oral literature. This is kept by and occasionally, in parts, recited by the Camp Singers." — Nomads of Gor, page 12 (footnote).

Very few of the Wagon Peoples can read or write. Those who can, have acquired their knowledge in the cities. The Wagon Peoples have excellent memories and their literature is a rich body of oral histories and lore which is recited at given times throughout the year by the Camp Singers.

"Most of those of the Wagon Peoples have excellent memories, trained from birth. Few can read, though some can, perhaps having acquired the skill far from the wagons, perhaps from merchants or tradesmen. The Wagon Peoples, as might be expected, have a large and complex oral literature. This is kept by and occasionally, in parts, recited by the Camp Singers." — Nomads of Gor, page 12 (footnote).

Noted Year Names

  • Year in Which Tarl Cabot Came to the Wagon Peoples
  • Year in Which Tarl Cabot Commanded a Thousand

These events are all which happened while Tarl Carbot was with the Tuchuks. The year-names given are official year-names.

"Your coming and going with the Wagon Peoples," said Kamchak, "has spanned parts of two of our years." I looked at him, not really understanding. What he said, of course, was true.
       "The years," said Harold, smiling, "were two — the Year in which Tarl Cabot Came to the Wagon Peoples and the Year in which Tarl Cabot Commanded a Thousand."
       Inwardly I gasped. These were year names — which would be remembered by the Year Keepers, whose memories knew the names of thousands of consecutive years. — Nomads of Gor, page 343.

Special Events

  • Battle at the Wagons
  • Siege of Turia
  • Taking of the City
  • Election of the Ubar San

These events are all which happened while Tarl Carbot was with the Tuchuks during the year-names of The Year in Which Tarl Cabot Came to the Tuchuks and the Year in Which Tarl Cabot Commanded a Thousand.

"The morning after the Battle at the Wagons I had mounted a rested kaiila and set forth for Turia." — Nomads of Gor, page 268.

".. there have been many things of much greater importance than those in these years — the Siege of Turia, the Taking of the City, the Election of the Ubar San." — Nomads of Gor, page 343.

The Games of Love War

The Games of Love War are held annually in the Season of Little Grass and in fact, these games are said to pre-date even the first Omen Year. Often, the two events are confused, and are often thought of going hand in hand with each year. The Games of Love War occur every two (2) years, while the Omen Year, takes place every tenth (10th) year. These games are a series of martial contests between the warriors of the Wagon Peoples, and the warriors of Turia. At the time of these Games, an unofficial truce is declared between Turia and the Wagon Peoples, normally enemies of one another; and also between the various tribes of nomads. For more complete information, please refer to the Recreation pages.

"I wondered on what Kamchak had called the games of Love War, said to take place on the Plains of a Thousand Stakes. I supposed, in time, that I would learn of this." — Nomads of Gor, page 56.

The Omen Year

The four tribes of the Wagon Peoples war amongst each other more or less continuously; but once every ten years they come together during a season called The Omen Year. The Omen Year actually spans parts of two different regular years, which are calculated by the Wagon Peoples from one Season of Snows to the next Season of Snows. The Omen Year lasts several months, and is comprised of three phases related to the seasonal migrations of the bosk. This is where many camps falter in their practices online. I've seen camps migrate these three phases each year, which is incorrect. These three phases of migration occur only during the Omen Year and are ceremonial with all four (4) tribes participating. In all other years, migration simply occurs when and where as the bosk need.

The first phase is known as the Passing of Turia, and takes place during the autumn.

The second phase is called the Wintering, and takes place when the tribe is camped to the north of Turia and south of the Cartius River. The equator, in the southern hemisphere, is to the north; thus it is in the north that the Wagon Peoples are most likely to find grass for the bosk during the cold winter months.

The third and final phase of the Omen Year is called the Return to Turia, which takes place in the spring, or Season of Little Grass.

"The Wagon Peoples war among themselves, but once in every two hands of years, there is a time of gathering of the peoples, and this, I had learned, was that time. In the thinking of the Wagon Peoples it is called the Omen Year, though the Omen Year is actually a season, rather than a year, which occupies a part of two of their regular years, for the Wagon Peoples calculate the year from the Season of Snows to the Season of Snows… the Omen Year, or season, lasts several months, and consists of three phases, called the Passing of Turia, which takes place in the fall; the Wintering, which takes place north of Turia and commonly south of the Cartius, the equator of course lying to the north in this hemisphere; and the Return to Turia, in the spring, or, as the Wagon Peoples say, in the Season of Little Grass. It is near Turia, in the spring, that the Omen Year is completed… " — Nomads of Gor, pages 11-12.

"It is the Omen Year," had said Kamchak of the Tuchuks. The herds would circle Turia, for this was the portion of the Omen Year called the Passing of Turia, in which the Wagon Peoples gather and begin to move toward their winter pastures; the second portion of the Omen Year is the Wintering, which takes place far north of Turia, the equator being approached in this hemisphere, of course, from the south; the third and final portion of the Omen Year is the Return to Turia, which takes place in the spring, or as the Wagon Peoples have it, in the Season of Little Grass. It is in the spring that the omens are taken, regarding the possible election of the Ubar San, the One Ubar, he who would be Ubar of all the Wagons, of all the Peoples. — Nomads of Gor, page 55.

"I originally regarded the Omen Year as a rather pointless institution, but I came to see later that there is much to be said for it: it brings the Wagon Peoples together from time to time, and in this time, aside from the simple values of being together, there is much bosk trading and some exchange of women, free as well as slave; the bosk trading genetically freshens the herds and I expect much the same thing, from the point of view of biology, can be said of the exchange of the women; more importantly, perhaps, for one can always steal women and bosk, the Omen Year provides an institutionalized possibility for the uniting of the Wagon Peoples in a time of crisis, should they be divided and threatened. I think that those of the Wagons who instituted the Omen Year, more than a thousand years ago, were wise men." — Nomads of Gor, page 56.

"The institution of Love War is an ancient one among the Turians and the Wagon Peoples, according to the Year Keepers antedating even the Omen Year. The games of Love War, of course, are celebrated every spring between, so to speak, the city and the plains, whereas the Omen Year occurs only every tenth year." — Nomads of Gor, page 115.

The Omen Taking

It is at this time that the omens are read by hundreds of haruspexes, in verr livers and bosk blood, to determine whether the time is right for the choosing of an Ubar San (One Chief) to rule over all the four tribes of the Wagon Peoples, thus bringing them together under one fearsome war standard.

"It is near Turia, in the spring, that the Omen Year is completed, when the omens are taken usually over several days by hundreds of haruspexes, mostly readers of bosk blood and verr livers, to determine if they are favorable for a choosing of a Ubar San, a One Ubar, a Ubar who would be High Ubar, a Ubar of an the Wagons, a Ubar of all the Peoples, one who could lead them as one people." — Nomads of Gor, pages 11-12.

The omens had not been favorable for the choosing of an Ubar San for over a hundred years, at the time when living among the Wagon Peoples. The joining together of the Wagon Peoples presented a terrible threat to all of the cities of the north. United, they would be unstoppable in their march northwards and eastwards. It was said that once, a thousand years ago, they had carried devastation all the way to Ko-Ro-Ba.

"The omens, I understood, had not been favorable in more than a hundred years. I suspected that this might be due to the hostilities and bickerings of the peoples among themselves; where people did not wish to unite, where they relished their autonomy, where they nursed old grievances and sang the glories of vengeance raids, where they considered all others, even those of the other Peoples, as beneath themselves, there would not be likely to exist the conditions for serious confederation, a joining together of the wagons, as the saying is; under such conditions it was not surprising that the 'omens tended to be unfavorable;' indeed, what more inauspicious omens could there be? The haruspexes, the readers of bosk blood and verr livers, surely would not be unaware of these, let us say, larger, graver omens. It would not, of course, be to the benefit of Turia, or the farther cities, or indeed, any of the free cities of even northern Gor, if the isolated fierce peoples of the south were to join behind a single standard and turn their herds northward, away from their dry plains to the lusher reaches of the valleys of the eastern Cartius, Perhaps even beyond them to those of the Vosk. Little would be safe if the Wagon Peoples should march. A thousand years ago it was said they had carried devastation as far as the walls of Ar and Ko-ro-ba." — Nomads of Gor, pages 12-13.

"There had not been, I knew, a Ubar San in more than a hundred years. It did not seem likely, either, that one would be elected in the spring. Even in the time I had been with the wagons I had gathered that it was only the implicit truce of the Omen Year which kept these four fierce, warring peoples from lunging at one another's throats, or more exactly put, at one another's bosk. Naturally, as a Koroban, and one with a certain affection for the cities of Gor, particularly those of the north, particularly Ko-ro-ba, Ar, Thentis and Tharna, I was not disappointed at the likelihood that a Ubar San would not be elected. Indeed, I found few who wished a Ubar San to be chosen. The Tuchuks, like the other Wagon Peoples, are intensely independent. Yet, each ten years, the omens are taken." — Nomads of Gor, page 56.

The Season of Little Grass

The spring months for the Wagon Peoples .

"… in the spring, or, as the Wagon Peoples say, in the Season of Little Grass." — Nomads of Gor, pages 11-12.

"The Season of Little Grass is upon us," said Kamchak. "Tomorrow the herds will move toward Turia." I nodded. The Wintering was done. There would now be the third phase of the Omen Year, the Return to Turia. — Nomads of Gor, page 82.

The Season of Snows

The Season of Snows are the winter months for the Wagon Peoples.

"… the Wagon Peoples calculate the year from the Season of Snows to the Season of Snows…" — Nomads of Gor, pages 11-12.

"The winter came fiercely down on the herds some days before expected, with its fierce snows and the long winds that sometimes have swept twenty-five hundred pasangs across the prairies; snow covered the grass, brittle and brown already, and the herds were split into a thousand fragments, each with its own riders, spreading out over the prairie, pawing through the snow, snuffing about, pulling up and chewing at the grass, mostly worthless and frozen. The animals began to die and the keening of women, crying as though the wagons were burning and the Turians upon them, carried over the prairies. Thousands of the Wagon Peoples, free and slave, dug in the snow to find a handful of grass to feed their animals. Wagons had to be abandoned on the prairie, as there was no time to train new bosk to the harness, and the herds must needs keep moving." — Nomads of Gor, page 58.

 

 

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Special Note

Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:

  • Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
  • Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
  • Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
  • Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
  • Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
  • Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)

Disclaimer

These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.