Twenty-seven seasons of light.

The Maldivian year is not four seasons but twenty-seven nakaiy: short spells of about thirteen days, each named for the star that rises with it, grouped under two monsoons. Fishermen and farmers still plan by them. We use them for the same reasons: which way the wind will push the clouds at sunset, whether the lagoon will be glass or chop, and when a covered venue is a real option rather than a courtesy. Find the nakaiy you are travelling in.