Dikgwedi [Months]

Names of the Months in Setswana
[ENG] Modern Batswana use the Gregorian Calendar almost entirely, so much so that many people do not know of the lunar calendar that was used by our ancestors. The calendar was based on the moon and climatic seasons, where the first month of the year was aligned with the beginning of the ploughing season. This first season of the year was called “Selemo” [Summer], which literally translates to “planting time/cycle”, and it began roughly in August/September (as the lunar calendar is not congruent with the solar one).
This constant misalignment of the solar cycle to the lunar one resulted in seasons increasingly starting earlier every year (by the 5-day difference between the 365-day sun year and the 360-day moon year). To compensate for this, a concept very similar to the Gregorian “leap year” was used. This was the inclusion of a thirteenth month every five or so years, which would result in the realignment of the beginning of season Selemo [Summer] with the beginning of the month Lwetse [September].
Although not much has been documented on this phenomenon, save mainly in oral tradition, one major piece of attestation to this is the existence of two different names for December: the standard “Sedimonthole” and the thirteenth “Morule”. When translating the Gregorian Calendar to Setswana, we obviously started with January, and by the time the reached December, the 13th name did not have any corresponding English month, and so was also appropriated for December.
See the differences between these two calendars below.
[TSN] Batswana ba segompieno ba dirisa moalo wa dikgwedi o o dirisiwang ke bontsi ja lefatshe ka bophara, o o itsegeng ka leina la Gregorian Calendar. Moalo o o farologana le o o neng o dirisiwa ke Batswana ba pele, o o neng o ikaegile mo thulaganyong ya ngwedi. Mo moalong o, ngwaga e ne e simolola le tshimololo ya paka ya temo, e e bidiwang “Selemo”. Ka jalo, re ka lemoga gore ngwaga o ne o simolola ka nako ya letsema, mo kgeding ya Lwetse (August/September – ka ntlheng ya gore malatsi a motsamao a ngwedi a a farologana, ngwaga le ngwaga).
Tota se se dirwa ke gore kgwedi e e balwang ka motsamao wa ngwedi e na le malatsi a le 30, ka jalo dikgwedi di le 12 di dirwa ke malatsi a le 360. Se se farologana le palo ya malatsi a le 365 e e mo moalong wa Gregorian, o o ikaegileng mo motsamaong wa lefatshe go dikologa letsatsi. Ka jalo, ngwaga le ngwaga go nna go tlhaela malatsi a ka nna matlhano grore tshimologo ya dipaka e nne e lebagane sentle le tshimologo ya ngwaga. Go tila se, motlapele are ba ne ba na le go sukunyetsa kgedi ya bo-13 (Morule) morago ga dingwaga di le mmalwa, go dira gore paka ya letsema e nne e lebagana sentle le kgwedi ya Lwetse.
Le fa ntswa go sa kwalwa thata ka se, motho o ka itemogela gore kgwedi ya December e na le maina a Setswana a le mabedi: Sedimonthole le Morule. E ne ya re fa Gregorian e ranolelwa ko Setswaneng, ga fitlhelwa go na le leina le le saletseng la Morule, ka jalo la bewa fela gore ke leina le lengwe la ga Sedimonthole.
Leba mealo ya dikgwedi jaaka e farologana, fa tlase.
Gregorian Calendar/Moalo wa Dikgwedi wa Sesha
# | English | Setswana | #Days/#Malatsi |
1 | January | Firikgong | 31 |
2 | February | Tlhakole | 28 (29 every 4 years) |
3 | March | Mopitlo | 31 |
4 | April | Moranang | 30 |
5 | May | Motsheganong | 31 |
6 | June | Seetebosigo | 30 |
7 | July | Phukwi | 31 |
8 | August | Phatwe | 31 |
9 | September | Lwetse | 30 |
10 | October | Phalane | 31 |
11 | November | Ngwanatsele | 30 |
12 | December | Sedimonthole/Morule | 31 |
Traditional Calendar/Moalo wa Dikgwedi wa Setso
# | Setswana | Sekgowa | #Days/#Malatsi |
1 | Lwetse | September | 30 |
2 | Phalane | October | 30 |
3 | Ngwanatsele | November | 30 |
4 | Sedimonthole | December | 30 |
(13) | Morule | 13th Month | 30 (occurs every 5 years) |
5 | Firikgong | January | 30 |
6 | Tlhakole | February | 30 |
7 | Mopitlo | March | 30 |
8 | Moranang | April | 30 |
9 | Motsheganong | May | 30 |
10 | Seetebosigo | June | 30 |
11 | Phukwi | July | 30 |
12 | Phatwe | August | 30 |