What do the people in-universe use to tell what year it is?

I know we use "BBY" and "ABY" to help us form a consistent continuity and timeline of events in the gffa, but what do the actual sentients(dosen't seem right to call them all "people", you know?) in the gffa use to mark their years? Sure, they could use ABY after the actual battle of yavin, however before the battle took place this could obviously not be a reference point. And even then, surely not every planet and species was aware this battle took place.
And what about those species who reside in wild space, the unknown regions, or even extra galactic species like the vong? These species would be totally out of the loop with regards to the goings on in the "main parts" of the gffa (ie the rims etc.). So how would they tell what year it is?
Does every species have a different way of making their years based on the rotation of their homeworld? Did all the planets/species who were mebers of the old republic use the same system to mark their years?

 

This should answer that question:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Standard_Calendar

 

I see. Thank your for the link Bardan.
However that only answers part of my question(s). What about planets/species who were not members of the old republic?(which would be pretty much all the planets in wild space and unknown regions, correct? And I would guess even a good number of planets in the outer rim where the republic was less active) And for that matter, what about before the old republic even existed? And how about the vong and other species not from the gffa? Do we even know how they told time?( I suspect not, but it is worth asking)

 

We don't know: presumably, all such species had similar calendars dating back to significant historical events until such a time that they adopted the Republic's (or Empire's) system.

 

Bardan?

First time someones gotten me confused with the Mando...

 

Lol sorry. I had 2 tabs open and was reading 2 pages at once and must've got cofused

 

No problem. It was just a bit of a 'what the heck?' moment.

 

After the founding of the Republic it's date has been used as reference point in the galactic calendar. After the Treaty of Coruscant this has became the new one, later it was the year of the Ruusan Reformations and in the final days of the Republic the Great ReSynchronisation. Emperor Palpatine has made the Galactic Empire's date of founding to the new reference point in the Imperial Calendar, the Rebellion and New Republic used the Battle of Endor and later the Battle of Yavin.

I don't like it to use the Yavin calendar in-universe. In the real world, it makes sense to use the first Star Wars movie, yes, but in-universe it was only one battle of many in the Galactic Civil War. It seems unlikely to make it to the reference point in the galactic calendar 25 years later.

I'd prefer the Battle of Endor or Anakin Skywalker's birthday.