The Wagon people handle the passing of time differently than the rest of Gor. There are two calendars used among the Wagons. One is kept by the men and relates to the seasonal migrations of the bosk. This calendar is measured in seasons. Some years are longer than others when measured in days. Two of the known seasons are the Season of Snows, which is in winter. The other is known as the Season of Little Grass, which is in spring.
The second calendar used among the Wagons is kept by the women. This calendar is based on the phases of Gor's largest moon, and is divided into fifteen months. Each month is named after one of the fifteen varieties of the bosk. This calendar functions completely independently from the calendar based on the seasons.
The visual representation of this calendar is a set of colored wooden pegs fixed on the sides of some of the Wagons. A small disc, bearing the image of a bosk, is slipped over one of the pegs. The position of that peg is dependent on what moon it is.
The Wagon People do not give numbers to their years. Each year is given a name, which is related to some pivotal event that occurred during the past fifteen moons. These names are not written down, but are kept in the memories of men 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 Tuchuk history. Two examples of the count of Years among the wagon are: "The Year in which Tarl Cabot came to the Wagon Peoples" and "The Year in which Tarl Cabot commanded a Thousand".
Once every ten years, the four tribes of the Wagon People cease their more or less continual warring upon each other and come together as one tribe, the Omen Year. The Omen year actually spans parts of two different regular years, which are measured by the Wagon Peoples from one Season of Snows to the next. The Omen Year lasts several months, and is comprised of three phases related to the seasonal migrations of the bosk.
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 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. 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, or High Ubar, to rule over all the four tribes of the Wagon Peoples. During this time the tribes are brought together under one war standard.
"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."
Nomads of Gor, pg 11
"It is the Omen Year,' had said Kamchak of the Tuchuks....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
"The games of the Love War are celebrated every spring... whereas the Omen Year occurs only every tenth year."
Nomads of Gor, page 115
"The animals sacrificed, incidentally, are later used for food, so the Omen taking, far from being a waste of animals, is actually a time of feasting and plenty for the Wagon Peoples, who regard the Omen taking, provided it results that no Ubar San is to be chosen, as an occasion for gaiety and festival. As I may have mentioned, no Ubar San had been chosen for more than a hundred years."
Nomads of Gor, page 171
"This is the first Omen, said Kamchak, '--the Omen to see if the Omens are propitious to take the Omens. "
Nomads of Gor, page 172
"Conrad spoke. 'The Omens have been taken, ' he said. 'They have been read well, ' said Hakimba. 'For the first time in more than a hundred years,' said the Paravaci, 'there is a Ubar San, a One Ubar, Master of the Wagons!'... 'Kamchak,' they cried, 'Ubar San!' "
Nomads of Gor, page 334
