The Star Wars galaxy has its own calendar system – and here’s how to read it. The Star Wars saga spans decades, running from the childhood of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to the impending final battle with Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the timeline.
In general, fans tend to relate everything to the very first Star Wars movie, which as referred to as the Battle of Yavin (BY). Events preceding the Battle of Yavin are “Before Battle of Yavin” (BBY) and following it are “After Battle of Yavin” (ABY). It’s simple and efficient, meaning Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is dated at 32BBY, while Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set at 35ABY. There’s just one problem with this dating system; there’s absolutely no way it would be used in-universe. Fortunately, Pablo Hidalgo – of the Lucasfilm Story Group – has created his own calendar system. It appears in Star Wars: Scum & Villainy, which is a collection of police records purporting to cover the galaxy’s worst scoundrels - and, of course, they’re dated.
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According to Hidalgo’s reference book, the Coruscant police use a calendar called “CRC”. It’s unclear what these letters stand for – some fans have suggested it’s akin to “Central Republic Calendar”, perhaps the origin of the Republic. Regardless, the calculation is oriented arbitrarily around the first Star Wars movie, but in quite an amusing way. It dates the Battle of Yavin as 7977 – the 1977 release of Star Wars, plus 6,000. Everything is dated around that, meaning the films can be dated as follows:
Amusingly, there may well be a subtle reference to this calendar in The Mandalorian. In the first episode, the titular bounty hunter is given a tracking fob to locate a target, which turned out to be Baby Yoda. The last four digits told the Mandalorian the mark’s age, meaning it was probably a reference to a year; given The Mandalorian is set in 7990CRC, it’s safe to assume those numbers are “7940.”
The introduction of an actual Star Wars calendar seems like a logical next step in expanding this shared universe. It serves as a reminder that, as important as characters like Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Rey may be, the history of the entire galaxy doesn’t revolve around them. It’s certainly interesting to speculate what key event stands at the beginning of the calendar, though; was it the founding of the Republic, or was it some other galaxy-defining moment of history? Hopefully, Star Wars will eventually reveal the truth.
- Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) release date: Dec 20, 2019
