Dikgwedi [Months]

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.

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