Tamriel's calendar has twelve months and seven weekdays. Morning Star corresponds roughly to January, with the year running through Evening Star, the December equivalent. Month lengths depend on the game, holidays can belong to particular regions, and an era identifies a historical period rather than a month or season.
Elder Scrolls months in order
The Gregorian equivalents below provide a clear reference conversion for modern readers. In Oblivion and Skyrim, the annual cycle follows these day counts, as documented on UESP's calendar reference.
- Morning Star: January, 31 days.
- Sun's Dawn: February, 28 days.
- First Seed: March, 31 days.
- Rain's Hand: April, 30 days.
- Second Seed: May, 31 days.
- Midyear: June, 30 days.
- Sun's Height: July, 31 days.
- Last Seed: August, 31 days.
- Hearthfire: September, 30 days.
- Frostfall: October, 31 days.
- Sun's Dusk: November, 30 days.
- Evening Star: December, 31 days.
Skyrim's calendar uses Heart Fire rather than Hearthfire for the ninth month. In-game texts also present Midyear and Frostfall as Mid Year and Frost Fall, but these variants describe the same points in the year.
Tamriel's weekdays and their English equivalents
Tamriel organizes every week into seven days. Following the layout that begins on Sundas, their order and English counterparts are:
- Sundas: Sunday.
- Morndas: Monday.
- Tirdas: Tuesday.
- Middas: Wednesday.
- Turdas: Thursday.
- Fredas: Friday.
- Loredas: Saturday.
The starting day of the week varies between primary references. While reference calendars and Daggerfall graphics place Sundas at the start, the Arena Player's Guide orders the seven days from Morndas through Sundas, as shown on UESP's lore calendar.
Why month lengths change between games
In Arena and Daggerfall, every single month lasts exactly 30 days. Daggerfall also begins each month on Sundas, which resets the weekday alignment at the start of every monthly cycle.
Oblivion and Skyrim adopt the mixture of 28, 30, and 31 days that mirrors real-world calendars. Unmodified Morrowind omits Morning Star entirely because of an internal counting error, as detailed in UESP's game calendar comparison.
Holidays across Tamriel and around the Iliac Bay
Arena describes certain holidays as celebrations recognized across Tamriel. These traditions include specific dates and public customs recorded in The Imperial Library's calendar:
- New Life Festival, 1 Morning Star: the new year is celebrated with free ale at taverns.
- Heart's Day, 16 Sun's Dawn: inns offer visitors free rooms in honor of Polydor and Eloisa, the figures remembered in the Legend of the Lovers.
In Daggerfall, Theth-i's Holidays of the Iliac Bay describes other celebrations associated with particular communities. These examples attach the dates to named places and local traditions:
- Waking Day, 18 Morning Star: the people of Yeorth Burrowland rouse the spirits of nature after winter.
- Gardtide, 1 Rain's Hand: Tamarilyn Point remembers an old flower cult through its celebration.
- Tibedetha, 24 Mid Year: Alcaire honors Tiber Septim.
- Moon Festival, 8 Sun's Dusk: Glenumbra Moors remembers Secunda, the ancient goddess of the moons.
These Iliac Bay celebrations demonstrate that holiday observances in Tamriel are often local rather than continent-wide. While Arena introduced broad celebrations across the empire, later lore grounds specific festivals in individual towns, provinces, and cultural traditions.
How eras and years differ from months
Month names and historical dates describe entirely different scales of time. Tamrielic dates track annual recurrence, while broader history is divided into major epochs documented in UESP's calendar chronology:
- Month: the recurring annual position, such as Morning Star or Last Seed.
- Year: the numbered year counted within an era.
- Era: the overarching historical age, such as the Third Era or Fourth Era.
A month name alone cannot place an event in Tamriel's history without its numbered year and era designation. For the broader sequence of ages and where each game takes place, read The Elder Scrolls timeline, explained.
Which Tamrielic holiday would you most like to see in TES VI?
