The Day of Honor

The Evidence

         The most widely known holiday of the Klingon year is the Day of Honor. Eight Days of Honor have been depicted onscreen or in the books and comics, and one other has been mentioned. Their timings during the year have never been consistent during any of those usages. Fandom has commonly placed the Day of Honor on March 23rd in the Earth calendar, in honor of the airdate of the first appearance of the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy." However this date does not align with any of the specific dates given for the Days of Honor shown onscreen on in the literature.

TOS: Day of Honor- Treaty's Law

  • Stardate 3629. This calendar date is hard to nail down because of the inexact nature of TOS stardates. But it is sometime in 2267 or 2268.

TNG: Day of Honor- Ancient Blood

  • There is very little chronological information to go on in the novel. Alexander is said to be 12 years old, so it must occur late in the service of the Enterprise-D. Alexander's age onscreen was always problematic. His mother died around his first birthday, yet he later said he was three at the time. Perhaps those around him were in the habit of "converting" his age to the equivalent human age, since Klingons develop faster than humans. He was said to be nearing 13 in "Firstborn" during 2370. So this probably takes place at some point that year or the years surrounding.

DS9: Day of Honor- Armageddon Sky

  • April 13, 2372. Two chronological clues in this novel point us to this exact date. Worf says that the upcoming Day of Honor will take place on the fourth day of the ninth month under the Klingon calendar. It is also said to have been about 100 days since the events of "The Way of the Warrior."  The stardate for that episode converts to January 5, 2372. Around one hundred days after this would be some time in April 2372. 
  • As I've explained elsewhere, these two facts are what has led me to adjust the last (ninth) month of the Klingon year from Christopher L. Bennett's iteration of the Kenson-Bennett Klingon calendar from Nay'Poq to A'Kahless. The months still fall in the same order, but under my version, A'Kahless would be the final month of the previous year, instead of the first month of the following year. 
  • This results in allowing the "fourth day of the ninth month" to become 4 A'Kahless 997. And this falls into the one hundred days after "The Way of the Warrior" timeframe we are looking to coincide with. The Klingon date then converts to April 13-14, 2372 for this Day of Honor.

VOY: Day of Honor- Her Klingon Soul

  • Stardate 49588 occurs a short span of time after the Day of Honor in this novel. This date converts to August 3, 2372. So the (apparently second) Day of Honor this year is in very late July or very early August 2372, about three and a half months after the one depicted in the Deep Space Nine novel.

DS9 (Young Adult): Day of Honor- Honor Bound

  • There is very little chronological info in the this novel, but it takes place early in Worf's tenure on Deep Space Nine. However this can't be the same Day of Honor as the one seen in the Deep Space Nine novel.

Star Trek Unlimited comic story: "The Warrior"

  • This story is full of contradictory chronological information. Worf is said to be part of the House of Mogh and is wearing a Star Trek: First Contact style uniform, so it must take place in late 2373 or later. However he encounters Lursa's infant son, who was born in late 2370 or early 2371. It is impossible to reconcile these data points. However, the fact that Lursa's son is still an infant seems to be more integral to the story than the other clues, so an earlier date would be preferable.

Marvel DS9 Issue 13: Day of Honor

  • Stardate 50796. This converts to October 18, 2373. However, this issue is part of the Telepathy War crossover event, which spans many days, and the stardates for each issue are all the same. This error would give us some leeway, if necessary, to adjust the exact stardate of this Day of Honor.

Voyager episode: "Day of Honor"

  • No exact stardate is given for this episode.  The following episode is said to be three days later and has a stardate of 51186.2.  That converts to March 9, 2374.  So the Day of Honor took place on March 6, 2374.  This is a short amount of time after the Day of Honor depicted in the DS9 comic.
  • The novelization mentions the events of the Voyager Day of Honor novel as being the previous Day of Honor, thereby ignoring the Day of Honor mentioned in the Marvel DS9 comic.

The Klingon Art of War

  • No specific date is given, only a mention that a Day of Honor falls in the year 2383.

         So we are left with only this concrete information on when Days of Honor occur, which is neither consistent about the time of year, nor the duration between celebrations.

My Interpretation

         Given the fact that the two Days of Honor B'Elanna commemorates are said to be consecutive celebrations (despite the fact that they occur more than one Klingon year apart, and despite the fact that Worf notes another Day of Honor which takes place between them) I decided  to divide the four dated celebrations into sets of two. A "High Day of Honor" and a "Low Day of Honor." This accounts for B'Elanna only bothering to take note of the "High Day of Honor", while the "Low Day of Honor" celebrations are only mentioned by Worf and Martok, who would be more observant of a lesser cultural occasion.

High Days of Honor

  • Late July or Early August 2372 (VOY: HKS)
  • March 6, 2374 (VOY Episode)

Low Days of Honor

  • April 13, 2372 (DS9: AS)
  • Mid October 2373 (Marvel DS9 13)

         Under this way of looking at things, it becomes interesting that the two Low Days of Honor could be seen as taking place exactly 1.5 years apart.   The High Days of Honor don't seem to take place any notable length of time apart.

My Speculation

         Going with the assertion from the Day of Honor novelization that the two Days of Honor B'Elanna celebrates are consecutive High Days of Honor, and acknowledging the fact that the span of time doesn't seem to be any round length in the Klingon calendar system (certainly not one year), I speculate that the High Day of Honor actually takes place once every Boreth year.  This seems to be a logical alternative to once every Klingon year, in the absence of any concrete alternative. 

         Then to account for the multitude of frequent Days of Honor in the early 2370s, and fitting with the fact that the two Low Days of Honor which we know the time frames of could be said to be spaced 1.5 Klingon years apart, I speculate that the Low Day of Honor takes place twice per Klingon year.

         I speculate the exact period of a Boreth year is 689.384 Klingon days.  This makes the High Day of Honor fall on these dates in the 2370s.

  • 19 Doqath 996 (December 26, 2370)
  • 37 Soo'jen 998 (July 31, 2372)
  • 6 Nay'Poq 999 14 months 2 weeks 1 day (March 6, 2374)
  • 22 Maktag 1001 (October 9, 2375)
  • 39 A'Kahless 1002 (May 13, 2377)
  • 8 Doqath 1004 (December 17, 2379)

         The Low Day of Honor being celebrated twice per Klingon year results in these two dates repeating each Klingon year, based on the date we know from the Deep Space Nine novel.

  • 4 A'Kahless (Mid April in the late 24th century)
  • 28 Maktag (Mid October in the late 24th century)

         I would further speculate that if the High Klingon Day of Honor falls within the same Klingon month as a Low Day of Honor, the Low Day of Honor is abrogated. 

My Speculation

         This results in these dates for all Klingon Days of Honor in the 2360s- 2380s.