A History of Calendar Reforms
The present civil calendar followed by most of the world has its origins
in the early Roman civilization.
Julius Caesar
reformed the Roman Calendar
in 46 BC, simplifying the periodic calendar correction by adding an extra
day to February every four years. Our month
of July, formerly "Quintilis," was therefore named in honor of Julius.
Because the Julian leap-year rule was not followed correctly at first,
Caesar Augustus
introduced a subsequent calendar correction around 8 BC. Our month of
August, formerly "Sextilis," was accordingly named in his honor.
With the lengths of the year and months established, the Julian Calendar still
preserved the Roman Kalends, Nones and Ides
for the divisions within the months. Emperor
Constantine
then reformed the
calendar in the 4th century, by introducing the seven-day week, probably
modeled on the Christian sabbatical cycle.
But the Julian calendar year eventually proved to be slightly longer
than the solar year. By the 16th century, the beginning of spring fell in
early March.
Pope Gregory XIII, acting on the advice of
Christopher Clavius, therefore
excised 10 days from the calendar by shortening October 1582, and he revised
the leap-year rule: No leap years in centesimal years (e.g. 1700, 1800, 1900), except those divisible
by 400 (e.g. 2000, 2400, 2800).
Most European nations adopted the Papal reform relatively quickly, with the
exception of Britain and its Colonies, which held out until 1752. At
that time, 11 days had to be excised in order to bring
the British calendar into sync with the rest of Europe.
The French adopted a "Revolutionary Calendar" for about a dozen years in
the nineteenth century, until Napoleon reestablished
the Gregorian Calendar in 1806. The "Republican Calendar" was
later reinstituted in Paris for several months in 1871.
Russia and the Soviet Union converted to the Gregorian Calendar after the
Revolution, in 1918.
The Eastern Orthodox Churches continued observing the Julian Calendar
until 1923, at which time some, but not all, skipped the first 13 days
in October, and introduced a "Revised Julian Calendar"
with a unique variation on the leap-year rule. This has
caused a schism between
New Calendarists and
Old Calendarists.
The problem remains unresolved.
TOP
The Future of Calendar Reform
Let us seriously consider the prospect that calendar reform is dead.
Calendar reform as we know it is someone's imposing a new or even only slightly revised calendar
upon everyone else, whether they want it or not. This happens always
in the context of an institution. Reform is an institutional phenomenon,
flowing always from the top down. The head of the institution, whether it be a Caesar,
a Pope, or a Parliament, determines that its calendar has a problem, and implements a solution.
Everyone subject to the institution's authority either accepts
the reform, or breaks away and continues following the old calendar.
Top-down calendar reform is not going to happen, because nothing is seriously
wrong with the Gregorian calendar. At least there are no problems serious enough to justify
reform. At the present stage of
technological advancement, the benefits of any significant reform will never outweigh
the costs. The Y2K problem, which required only a small software correction, gave us a glimpse
of the technological costs of calendar reform in the modern era. The
modern political costs of reform can hardly be
estimated. Status quo is far more prudent than calendar reform
for political leaders in democratic societies.
Calendar reform as we know it may be dead. But there is no reason to
think calendar change cannot happen. It is still possible to change the calendar of
institutions from the bottom up. It takes time, however; at least several generations. The
best strategy for this change is a Trojan horse. A new system for recording dates
can be introduceda system similar enough to
the Gregorian calendar that it need not replace it, so the two dating systems can operate
together. Provided the new system offers advantages lacking in the Gregorian system,
lower-level managers who make institutions work will prefer it. Generations after its
introduction we can expect to find almost everyone specifying their birthdays, anniversaries
and paydays in the new date format. At that point,
the new dating system will have replaced the old "church calendar."
For more, see Weekdate, the calendar Trojan horse.
TOP
Calendar Links
TOP
Mail to:
Rick McCarty