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Email comments or suggestionsI found someone who has pages similar to this one. See "An Introduction to Calendars" by Bill Hollon.
For other information about calendars and holidays see CalanderZone.
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to my home page has pointers to my other pages, such as Pishe, Ancient
Navigation, Margarita recipe, Sun Dials, Wild Ideas, Financial formulas,
Java financial calculators, financial guidance, retirement planning, estate
planning, and other things.
Early people did not have long division so they loved number base that could have many ratios. Twelve has may divisors and so you can have rational (ratios) numbers for 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and 1/6 of a day. In fact the Babylonian used a base 12 numbering system. It has come down to us today in the following forms: 10, 11, and 12 have their own unique names (not one - teen, etc.); we have words for units of 12 (dozen) and it's next place ( 12*12 = gross) and even the following place (12*12*12 = great gross). The decimal number 1242 in base 12 is 876 - 8 gross, 7 dozen and 6.
Noon time was the easy to determine, the shadow would be in a line due
north and south. This line due north and south through your position is
called the meridian, and this is where we get the names for or A.M. (Ante
Meridian) where the sun is before the meridian and P.M. (Post Meridian)
where the is after the meridian. But as people needed to tell more than
just noon, sunrise and sunset, they switched to equal hours so that clock
speeds would not have to be changed twice a day nor would there be need
of various lengths candles for determine the time at night. At same time
we changed so midnight was the start of the day because noon, mid-day,
was easy to determine but, they didn't want to change the designation of
the day in the middle of the work period so they used the time opposite
-- mid night. When we changed so the days started at midnight instead of
sundown, the evening (from sundown to midnight) was referred to as the
eve
of the day that arrives at midnight. This is keep the corresponding
day to when the days started at sundown. So if you were referring
to the "old method" of keeping dates you would speak of the "eve" as belonging
to the previous day. For example, the eve of 25th is actually
from sunset (the old start of the day) to midnight (start of the new day)
of what we would now call the 24th. This is where we get Christmas
Eve,
New Years Eve, etc. Many people call all of December 31 "New
Years Eve", when only the time from sunset to midnight should be called
Eve.
A.M. and P.M. do not apply to 12 o'clock because it is neither before or after the meridian, these are on the median. We must use the actual names for these times, noon and midnight. At midnight the sun crosses the meridian as well as noon, but only people in the arctic zones see it. Another problem, what date is midnight? If I told you to meet me Sunday midnight, when would you be there? Would you go late Saturday or go late Sunday? The military fixed this problem by using a 24 hour clock (it just has 12 hours add to the time after noon). 0:00 o'clock on Sunday, you leave late Saturday, and 24:00 o'clock you leave late Sunday to make the appointment. That way there is no A.M. or P.M. to worry about.
Early in Babylonian times (circa 600 BC), the Babylonians worshiped the moon. As a celebration of every full moon, the start of the month (moon-th), they would have a worship service and everybody got off work that day and went to worship service where there was eating, drinking and dancing. This they called Sappatu and came to English as Sabbath.
The work productivity actual went up when they started this. The Jewish people became captives of the Babylonians and they celebrated the new moon. The Babylonians thought if one celebration of the moon is good two would be better. So they started another worship service at the new moon (in the middle of the month). This gave them two days a month off. After awhile production still went up so they tried a day off at the quarter moons also (the waxing and the waning Gibbons) -- the time the moon appears as a half circle. In fact our English word Week comes from the Teutonic word for change -- indicating the change of the phases of the moon.
The people really enjoyed having 4 days off every moon cycle, but they had a complaint. It was 7 days from one day off to the next but frequently it was 8 days and it was very hard to figure when it was 7 and when it was 8. Because, on the average, there are 29.530588 days per month. Their months were 29 or 30 days long based on observation of the visibility of the first crescent. It is hard to divide it, therefore, the days between were hard to compute. So they stopped having the Sabbath (as the 4 days off in month were then called) based on the moon, but instead had it every 7 days. The Babylonians liked the number 7, it was magic. That was the number of planets (as they knew) and the planets were gods and the days of the weeks were named after the gods. Also, if you took a circle (such as a coin), you could put 6 other same size circles (coins) around it and they would all touch the center and their neighbors. Now the circle represents a god, and a circle of gods around a god must mean a god of gods and therefore very powerful.
This could have come from the Egyptians who named the hours of the day after a god and the god of the first hour (at sunrise) was the primary god of the day. Since there are 7 planet gods and each ruled a day, then the Babylonians could not have no god to rule the 8 day because that would be chaotic. If they just started with the 7 god with 8 day and cycled through them, it would still be a 7 day week. So 7 days for the week became the standard.
The Jewish people who were captives (slaves) of the Babylonians got every 7 day off so they could worship also. So even when they escaped, they followed keeping (worshiping on) the Sabbath. In fact, they still use today a modified version of calendar the Babylonians had developed thousands of years ago.
At the time of Alexander the Great, the Greeks started using the Babylonian calendar, astronomy and astrology but used their gods names instead. The Romans also adapted the calendar from the Greeks and again using their names for the planets (their gods) (see "Week Names" below.) At first it was informal, brought back by the people stationed in the middle east.
And early Christian observed the Sabbath (Jewish worship), and also day after the Sabbath (by now considered the first day of the week) where they worshiped Christ. When the Roman empire converted to Christianity (324 C.E.), they took the first day of the week as the day of worship and a day off and the 7 days a week became official.
The second day off did not come about until after 1945 (after World War II) because there were too many workers. The next day off was the Sabbath (our Saturday, the 7 day of the week) out of consideration of the Jews (who had suffered greatly during the war) and religious sect that followed Bible's injunctions of remembering the Sabbath. Note: Monday is the first day of the week in only a few calendars.
The Egyptians
and the Babylonians kept track of the year by observing the stars that
were in the sky where the sun appeared (Helio Rising). They divided the
year in to 12 parts because their number base was 12 or 60 and there was
just a little more than 12 moon cycles in a year. They had the 12 parts
each of 30 days and a partial month of 5 days. They divided the part of
the sky where the sun rose into 12 parts to represent the 12 parts of year.
They assigned the group of stars names and pictures, now called constellations,
this we call the Zodiac. When the Sun first arose in a constellation, it
was said to be entering the constellation. Basically, it is starting the
next month of the year. However, the earth has a little wobble in its axis
and this became inaccurate over the centuries. Now if we used the same
zodiac and looked to see where the sun rises we would see that the sun
has shifted 2 constellations. It is 2 months off. Yet astrologers still
use the old calendar (zodiac) to cast horoscopes.
Our names for the constellations came from the Latin, who got it from the Arabs, who got it from the Babylonians. Many of the star names and the measurement system used to map the heaven still have their Arabic names. For example, Betelgeuse means "arm pit" (of the giant) referring to the what we call the shoulder of the constellation Orion.
Agrarian cultures had to keep track of the seasons and wanted their calendars to do it for them but a pure lunar calendar was 11.2422 days too short. What they did was add an extra month to the year about every three years to get the calendar back in step with the seasons. So on the average, the year would come out about right and this is called a lunar - solar calendar. Most cultures with lunar calendars used this method. The Hebrew and Chinese calendars today still use this method. The Hebrew calendar adds a extra month to the middle of the year (as the seventh month) 7 times in a 19 year cycle. Also to keep the months in track with the lunar cycle, 3 of the months are variable (29 or 30 days in length) depending on the amount of adjustment needed. The Chinese calendar also adds a extra month when the error adds up be more than 1/2 of a month so the extra month can show up any time during the year. See "Calendars and Their History" for more information on the exact calculation
Early Roman calendar also added an extra month and it was controlled by the senate. They keep adding the extra month in a year so their term would run longer, you know how politicians behave. In 45 B.C.E. the calendar was very far off so Julius Caesar reformed the calendar and took it off the lunar cycle and put it on the solar cycle only. (See Caesarian on my miscellaneous page for an aside on Julius.) It started out as 5 months with 30 days and 6 months of 31 days with one month (February) having 29 and becoming 30 for leap year every 4 years. The beginning of each third month was the start of another season. But Augustus Caesar found the senate had counted the years incorrectly and had put a leap day every three years. Because of his correction the calendar, the senate wanted a month named for Augustus and the only one that didn't have holidays already assigned was the month after one given to Julius (July). It is only a rumor that it only had 30 days in it, so to not be out done by Julius, the senate stole a day from February.
In 154 B.C.E., the Roman senate started meeting at the start of the month after December, which was named January after the god of Janus. Janus was a temple god which could look forward and backward at the same time. They started the calling January 1 the start of new year. They left the months named after numbers the same even though they were now 2 months later in the calendar. Note: Not all people who followed the Roman calendar used January 1 as the day the year number changed. Many cultures used their own determination and many, including the Americans, used the day of the spring equinox as the start of the year. It wasn't until 1752, when America moved from the first of the year from Spring to January 1.
In 45 B.C.E., Julius reformed the calendar and the 7 month was named after him (July). Caesar Augustus took the 8 month in 8 C.E. rearranging the number of days in the months.
Even though the beginning of the year is January 1, because February can have a leap day added, it is easier in computing days in calendar by considering March as the first of the year and January and February as months at the end of the previous year. This is like the calendars before 153 B.C.E.
January Wolf Moon February Snow Moon March Worm Moon April Pink Moon May Flower Moon June Strawberry Moon or Rose Moon July Buck Moon August Sturgeon Moon or Green Corn Moon September Harvest Moon October Hunter's Moon November Beaver Moon December Cold Moon or Old MoonBut sometimes there are two moons in a month and there is a special name for the second month, the Blue Moon. This occurs because the lunar cycle is about 29.5 days and there is 30 or 31 days in a month except February. It is possible that February does not have a moon in it at all then January and March would have two moons. The Blue moon occurs about on the average about every 2.7 years. Whence comes the expression "once in a Blue Moon" indicating something that occurs infrequently.
In fact, Laraine Mesavage reports in The Moon Cycle and Spirit the Blue Moon is even more ancient and comes before our calendar when the seasons were tracked by the Zodiac and the Blue Moon referred to the second moon in a Zodiac constellation.
The seasons are because the Earth spins on it axis like a top. Like a spinning top it has a wobble, however this wobble is very small and take about 26,000 years for a revolution, so it can be ignored for our purposes. The poles of this spin are not perpendicular (straight up and down) to the Earth's orbit around the Sun. This is what gives us our seasons. The poles point toward the star Polaris and as the Earth revolves around the Sun, it appears as if the Sun was moving up and down relative to the equator. When the poles points along the Earth - Sun radius it is either Summer or Winter. If the North Pole is pointing toward the Sun it is Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. If the poles are tangent to the orbit of the Earth, it is an equinox (either Vernal or Autumn).
Another way of looking at the seasons: Consider the angle formed by the Sun, Earth, and North Pole (for Northern Hemisphere). If the angle is a right angle, it is an equinox. If it is at the most obtuse (90 + 23.5 degrees), it is Winter. If it is the most acute (90 - 23.5 degrees), it is Summer.
In a geocentric (Earth centered) view, the Sun appears to circle the Earth daily in a plane (not an airplane but a flat surface). This plane changes its tilt in a north/south direction a little each day. When this plane matches our equator it is an equinox, either the Vernal or Autumn. When this plane is the highest (about 23.5 degrees above the equator), it is Summer Solstice and when it is the same below the equator it is Winter Solstice.
"Everybody" knows that January 1, 2000 is the start of a new century, the 21st. Everybody is wrong!
Circa 525 C.E. the years started to be number from the date of Jesus' birth as computed by the religious people. They called it A.D. (Anno Domini -- the year of the lord) and some years latter, the years before are called B.C. (Before Christ). Before the change the years were numbered as such and such year of the reign of some king or emperor or from founding of Rome. The scholars made conversion tables for the old way of naming the years.
Things start numbering from 1, including years, not at 0, no matter what the computer scientist says. The day after December 31, 1 B.C. is January 1, 1 A.D. This means from 5 B.C. to 5 A.D. is 9 years not 10, there is a missing year, the year 0. Also the century 1 (the first 100 years) as commonly accepted starts at (Jan 1) year 1 and goes through the year (Dec 31) 100 as it would be figured in our current calendar. The second century (second 100 years) is from year 101 through 200. Etc. Also the first 1000 years (millennium) would be 1 AD to 1000 AD, 2nd millennium from 100 1AD to 2000 AD and the 3rd millennium from 2001 AD to 3000 AD. Also the 20th century is from year January 1, 1901 to December 31, 2000; and 21st century is going to be from year 2001 to 2100. When somebody says January 1, 2000 is the first day of the 21st century or beginning of 3rd millennium, tell them it is beginning of the last year of the 20th century or the last year of the second millennium. It can't even be called the beginning of the 20th hundred year because that is what the word century means.
Latter scholars recomputed the date Christ could be born and found they had set the date of Christ Birth by at least 4 years too late and many believe it may be 6 years late. By then most people had changed their calendars and so the error is just ignored. The Bible reports the Magi arrived in Jerusalem to discus with King Herod, the star announcing the birth of a new king and they and come to pay their respects. Well, Herod died 4 B.C. by our method of computing dates. The Magi had to have travel time to get to Jerusalem base on the time the Magi saw the star, Herod killed all Jewish children that were 2 years or younger. So if we allow 1 year for travel (half age of the children) and Herod dying in 4 B.C., the birth of Christ has to be at least 5 BC. Normally, it is reported that Christ was born about 4 BC. It is strange that the computed date of Christ's birth is 4 B.C. (4 years Before Christ)! Anglican Archbishop James Ussher in 1650 stated that Christ was born on October 23, 4 BC.
To avoid the confusion with B.C. and A.D. when A.D. actually is incorrectly identifying the starting date, people are starting to use C.E. (Common Era) and B.C.E. (Before Common Era) to refer to the date of the start of our calendar.
But if we go by latest day for the Birth of Christ, the first century is from 5 BC to 96 AD, and the 21th century starts on January 1, 1997. If we consider that Christ was born in the fall (the shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks), the 21th century will be in the fall of 1997, which is the latest the 21th century could start. If fact if we count the years, the first millennium will end October 22, 1997 and the new, second, millennium began on October 23, 1997.
Of course, not a lot of people care about the truth and are excited about seeing the three zeros at the end of the year number and want to have a big celebration about it, therefore they will want to call it something special. So even with all the corrections and notifications of the truth, I still expect to hear that January 1, 2000 is the beginning of the new (21st) Century and the beginning of the new (3rd) millennium.
After I wrote this, Author Stephen Jay Gould, wrote a book "Questioning the millennium" and an article in USA Weekend "Myths of the millennium". I assume he did his own research because he didn't credit me ;).
I am not fanatical, if I am invited to go to a "start of the new millennium" party December 31, 1999, I will go and have a great time. I will try to convince people to have another "start of the new millennium" celebration on December 31, 2000. Hey, maybe it can continue it for a few more year before any one catches on. Even 2010 ought to be the start of a millennium of something.
The countries that were predominate Catholic adopted the calendar. The
protestant countries adopted it later. England (and United States of America
as her colony) adopted the calendar in 1752 and to get the calendars to
agree, September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752 (missing 11
days).
Rather than to divide by 9 to find a reminder when dividing 9, you can use the math short cut called "casting out nines." You determine the remainder by adding up the digits (you can ignore 0 and 9) and if the sum of digits is more than 9 add the digits in the sum until you have a single digit. If that digit is 0 or 9, there is no remainder. For example, the remainder of dividing 808 by 9 is 7 (8 + 8 = 16 -- since has 2 digits repeat on it, 1 + 6 = 7). Another example: 777 divided by 9 has a remainder of 3 (7+7=14 -- over 9, 1+4=5, 5+7=12 -- over 9, 1+2=3).
You may think that this would be the most accurate calendar. The Mayan is more accurate but extremely complex. It had cycles of 13, 20, 260, 365, 18,890 days and method of handling long dates of 400 years, 5,125 years, and 64 million years. The Mayan calendar even takes in the 26,000 year wobble of the axis. Their calendar cycle will end on March 21, 2012, the end of the age. The "new - age" people are making a big deal of this. For more information see Prehistoric Calendars, it has a great drawing of the Mayan Calendar stone, explanations, pronunciation of the dates and a date converter. Also see The Classic Maya Calendar and Day Numbering System. One of the more strange things (at least to current observation) is that it tracked two separate events at the same time. The 260 day "year" followed the rising of Venus, and of course the 365 days followed the tropical year. It appears the Mayans knew the 365 days of the year was inaccurate (closer to 365.242?) but they didn't care. The other aspects of the calendar were more important that tracking the seasons. It could be they were from the tropics were the seasons meant less.
