Calendar year ("leap days" or "intercalary days"). The Gregorian year, which is in use in most of the world, begins on January 1 and ends on December 31. It has a length of 365 days in an ordinary year, with 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, or 31,536,000 seconds; but 366 days in a leap year, with 8,784 hours, 527,040 minutes, or 31,622,400 seconds. With 97 leap years every 400 years, the year has an average length of 365.2425 days. Other formula-based calendars can have lengths which are further out of step with the solar cycle: for example, the Julian calendar has an average
Middle-earth calendar the three extra days in every third "yén" (once every 432 years), for an average year length of ≈365.24306 days. In Rivendell, the "loa" began on the spring equinox and was divided into six "months" or seasons, as follows. Five other days, two between "coirë" and "tuilë" and three between "yávië" and "quellë", meant the calendar added up to 365 days. Irregularities were allowed for by adding another three days every twelve years, except the last year of a "yén". The calendar developed by the Men of Middle-earth is called the King's Reckoning, and is in many ways similar to