The Lion Calendar

The Lion Calendar is a lunar calendar used in ancient times on Aren. Based on the phases of the moon(which repeat in a pattern every 32 days), it uses a 384-day year with each month having 32 days. Being 19 days longer than a standard Alliance Year, this makes the calendar somewhat problematic as it has no alignment to the seasons. It is believed that the ancient calendar served a strictly religious/ceremonial function, while a more robust solar calendar governed the planting and harvesting of crops.

The moon above Aren goes through 8 phases each of which lasts 4 days.

The first day of the solar and lunar years align once every 384 solar years. B.G.A. 3800, the accepted start of recorded history, represents one such alignment. The last lunar/solar alignment of the Mage Wars occurred in 344 B.G.A. and the first alignment after the formal adoption of the Alliance Calendar occurred in A.Y. 140

Calculating Lunar/Solar dates

With thanks to Debsta on the Math Help Forum:

42nd day of the 150th solar year would be (150 - 1) x 365 + 42 days in = 54, 427 days in.

54427 / 384 = 141 full lunar years + 283 days, ie 283 days into the 142nd lunar year.

So, 42nd day of the 150th solar year would be the 283rd day of the 142nd lunar year.

Lunar/Solar Alignments in the Mage Wars Era

Year
344
728
1112
1496
1880
2264
2648
3032
3416
3800