Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 3 of The MandalorianAfter a shaky season premiere, The Mandalorian is finally finding its footing by keeping the focus on character development and the political disputes happening in a galaxy far, far away. That doesn’t mean the series stopped drawing inspiration from the non-canon Legends content, as Episode 3 of the third season of The Mandalorian just used the Galactic Standard Calendar. So, if you don’t know why a Taungsday can be challenging or why people celebrate Bendudays, we will break down how time measurement works in the galaxy.
What Is the Galactic Standard Calendar?
The Galactic Standard Calendar refers to the measurement of time used across the entire galaxy. Since the universe of Star Wars already uses Hyperdrive technology to bypass relativity, the whole galaxy can use the same time measurement system without worrying about time dilation, a natural consequence of traveling faster than the speed of light. Yes, Star Wars tries to fix physics without explaining how things work. Still, the important thing here is that the Galactic Standard Calendar is a system created to unify the control of any bureaucratic document all over the galaxy, which is essential to any kind of government.
As Season 3, Episode 3 of The Mandalorian explains, Coruscant is the galaxy’s heart. The city-planet houses all the main government departments, which means the Galactic Standard Calendar was created using Coruscant’s solar cycles. One day in Coruscant lasts 24 hours, just like it happens on Earth. However, it takes 368 standard days to fill a whole year on the planet instead of the usual 365 on Earth. Coruscant also splits days, months, and weeks in a totally different fashion.
Each week in Coruscant lasts only five days: Primeday, Centaxday, Taungsday, Zhellday, and Benduday. And each month comprises seven weeks, or 35 days. One year in Coruscant has ten standard months, three one-week festivals, and three holidays, for a total of 368 days. It’s a well-organized system that counts holidays and festivities as non-standard periods, so it’s easier to plan work activities around these special times.
Of course, since the galaxy is constantly changing due to the political turmoil it experiences, there are multiple calendars being created and replaced over the years. However, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game uses the ten-month Galactic Standard Calendar, making it more or less official in the Legends continuity.
‘The Mandalorian’ Makes Multiple Pieces of Legends Canon
In Season 3, Episode 3 of The Mandalorian, we hear characters referring to Taungsday as a challenging day of the week, probably because it’s the middle of the cycle, much like our Wednesdays. On one occasion, Dr. Penn Pershing (Omid Abtahi) also wishes his employee a happy Benduday, the end of another week. While it’s fun to see one of the main series of the Star Wars universe using the Galactic Standard Calendar, the confirmation of Coruscant’s weekdays also makes multiple Legends elements canon. That’s because each day of the week in the Galactic Standard Calendar refers to a piece of Star Wars lore.
Primeday is named like that because that’s the first day of the week. Centaxday, in turn, refers to the largest moon of Coruscant, Centax. Things start to get interesting on Taungsday, which nods at the Taungs. In Star Wars Legends’, the Taungs were a humanoid species native to Coruscant who was pushed away by humans after a bloody war. After leaving Coruscant, the Taungs set their gaze on another planet inhabited by giant creatures they had to tame or kill to gain control of the lands. This new planet would be known as Mandalore, and the first Mandalorians were all Taungs. Zhellday, on the other hand, refers to the Zhell, the humans who fought the Taungs in ancient times. Finally, Benduday refers to the order of the Dai-Bendu monks, who followed a Force-based religion and are considered the ancestors of the Jedi faith.
With Season 3 of The Mandalorian diving deep into Mandalore’s history and mythology, it’s clear that the Disney+ series is working to make multiple Legends elements canon. The confirmation of the weekdays on Coruscant is another piece of the puzzle, which helps fans anticipate the wild stories that will be made true in Disney’s new intertwined storyline.
New episodes of The Mandalorian come to Disney+ every Wednesday.