History of The Calendar - Origins - Systems - Uses
1st Century AD (is what date to what date)
1 AD - 100 AD
When did Great Britain officially change its start of the new year to January 1st, making the Gregorian calendar the new legal British Calendar? (replacing the Julian calendar where the new year began on March 25th [Lady's Day"] )
(in) 1750 (thru the "Calendar New Style" act of Parliament; aka. the "Chesterfield's Act" [citation: dictionary.sensagent.com, parliament.uk])
Which is the oldest calendar still in active use all over the world today?
(the) Hebrew Calendar (in popular use in Jewish communities since the 9th century BC: used continuously for over 2900 years)
The two types of calendars using a Solar Calendar System
(the) Tropical Solar Calendar (is based on the sun's procession across the equator to signal seasons [seasonal calendar]), (and the) SideReal Solar Calendar (is based on the sun passing through the constellations signaling months [astronomical calendar])
What Hebrew (Jewish) calendar year is it on January 1st 2019?
(year AM) 5779 (AM is used to identify the date as part of the "Anno Mundi" epoch, indicating the age of the world according to the Bible)
I
1
In what order is date information typically written?
In north America the order is typically Month-Day-Year, such as January 28th, 2019, or 1/28/2019. However in Europe and most of the rest of the world the order is Day-Month-Year, such as 28th, January 2019, or 28/1/2019..
November
November
October
October
1st Century BC (is what date to what date)
100 BC - 1 BC
TEBETH
10th December—January Vegetation Developing
SHEBAT
11th January—February Almond Blossoms
why do Lunar calendars require extensive use of Leap Years?
12 complete lunar leaves 14 missing days ever year that must be added somehow
How many months, weeks, and days make up one year in the Gregorian calendar?
12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days
ADAR
12th February—March 14, 15 Purim Citrus
VEADAR
13th March An intercalary month was added seven times in 19 years generally as a second Adar (Veadar)
(in which century is) 1792 BC
18th century BC
NISAN
1st (ABIB) March—April 14 Passover 15-21 Unfermented Cakes 16 Offering of firstfruits Barley
III
3
SIVAN
3rd May—June 6 Festival of Weeks (Pentecost) Early Figs
(in which millennium is) 21,500 BC
3rd Millennium BC
IV
4
TAMMUZ
4th June—July First Grapes
V
5
5th Century BC (is what date to what date)
500 BC - 401 BC
AB
5th July—August Summer Fruits
VI
6
ELUL
6th August—September Dates, Grapes, Figs
VII
7
TISHRI
7th September—October 1 Trumpet blast 10 Day of Atonement 15-21 Festival of Booths or Ingathering 22 Solemn assembly Plowing
VIII
8
How many hours in a 365 day year? (24 hours x 365)
8,760 hours
How many hours in a "true" Astronomical-year? (the time it takes for a single spot on the Earth to make one full revolution around the Sun and return to the exact same place)
8,765 hours 48 minutes 36 seconds or approximately 365.25 days
How many hours in a 366 day Leap year? (24 hours x 366)
8,784 hours
HESHVAN
8th (BUL) October—November Olives
IX
9
CHISLEV
9th November—December 25 Festival of Dedication Flocks Wintered
What is a personal or family calendar?
A calendar that keeps track of the special dates and events that are particular to an individual family, organization, or person, such as birthdays, anniversaries, personal milestones, obligations, deadlines, and vacations. These special dates are typically added to an individuals civic calendar.
What is an Astrological calendar?
A calendar that tracks the movements and phases of celestial bodies like stars, planets, the moon, and the sun.
What is a calendar date?
A date typically includes three pieces of information, a numbered-calendar-day, a named or numbered calendar month, and a numbered calendar year. This can be expanded to include the name of the day of the week, and even the time within that day.
What is a "Civil" calendar?
A list or register of days or years, used in a country for civil, administrative, or general purposes by people or organizations. It is NOT a specialized calendar that is focused on a single group or agenda, such as military calendar, or a scientific calendar or an astrological chart.
Chinese Calendar
A lunisolar calendar that is different that the calendar used in USA. Every year has a different animal and it is on a 12 year cycle. It determines important festivals in China like the Chinese New Year.
What is the term used for the days before a reckoning day?
A.D. (ante diem)
How does a calendar work?
It identifies and organizes the natural cycles of time thru days, years, and recurring natural events like winter & spring, comets, monsoons, and the Solstice, making them easier to predict and prepare for. Calendar-time is further artificially subdivided into weeks, decades, etc..
Which modern European countries use the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian?
All Eastern Orthodox religions use the Julian calendar, including in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, and others. This is why Easter, Christmas, and sometimes New Years fall on different dates than in western nations. For daily civic business however the Gregorian calendar is often used.
Which LuniSolar calendars are extinct? (used only for research)
Attic (Athenian), Rapa Nui,
Sextus
August
What was the month Sextus changed to?
Augustus (August)
Some examples of later ancient calendars:
Aztec Calendar, Hebrew Calendar, Buddhist Calendar, Norse Runic Calendar, and ancient Roman Calendar.
Which Lunar calendars are still in limited use?
Balinese-saka, Berber,
BCE stands for
Before Common Era (or in some cases "Before Christian Era")
What was the month Quintilius changed to?
Iulius (July)
Ianuarius
January
What are the three main astronomical "Systems" that are used to create a calendar?
Lunar, Solar, and Lunisolar, however some ancient calendars were based completely on the movement and positions of stars and constellations. These pure astrological calendars were used almost exclusively for astrology.
Which LuniSolar calendars are still in limited use?
Buddhist, Burmese, Tibetan, Vietnamese,
How does one country's civil calendar induce other countries to adopt that calendar in order for it to become more universal?
By increased cultural dominance through self promotion of its culture, as well as conquest, the creation of an empire, dominance through international business & trade, and other projections of power, making it advantageous for the weaker country to legally adopt the conqueror's calendar system.
Common or Current Era
CE stands for
What is the difference between a calendar and a timeline?
Calendars are based primarily on natural signals such as days and phases of the moon, whereas a timeline is almost completely based on fabricated time groups such as numbered-dates, historical events, geological periods, and huge swaths of time like eras, ages, and eons,
What is the difference between a calendar and a schedule?
Calendars reflect the many phases and signals in nature, whereas schedules are empty boxes reflecting fabricated time slots where in we can place information based on what we have to do and when.
Which Solar & astronomical calendars are extinct? (used only for research)
Early Iranian, Mayan, Aztec, Ancient Egyptian, Byzantine,
What is a "Natural Calendar-Signal"?
Celestial and terrestrial events that recur regularly, like sunrise and sunset, longer & shorter days, phases of the moon, the sun's positions, seasons, tides, movements of the stars & planets; solstice & equinox; and eclipses and comets that pass us and return.
Februarius
February
CE stands for
Common Era (or Current Era)
Which functions of a calendar are fabricated by man?
Divisions of time that are not found in nature, such as weeks, months, hours, minutes, seconds, holidays, the Sabbath, the weekend, decades, centuries, millennia, and any event on a calendar that is not a direct reflection of a natural event.
What are the drawbacks of a Lunar calendar system?
For every solar year (or seasonal year) there are about 12.37 synodic months (full phases of the moon). A lunar-year calendar must add extra days periodically (intercalation [addition]} to be kept in step with the (solar)seasonal year
Dies Lunae
Monday
In spite of a calendar's direct connection to natural cycles, are modern humans the only species to recognize the functions of a calendar?
Most evolved flora and fauna instinctively respond to night and day, changing seasons, and times of the year. Birds migrate, creatures breed at certain times, and trees lose their leaves, all in recurring cycles, and some on specific dates. So most creatures a tied to a natural calendar.
Examples of recent specialized calendars that do not fall into standard categories:
ISO week date, Holocene calendar, Arithmetic calendars, Darian calendar, Astronomical year numbering
Dies Iovis
Thursday
Dies Martis
Tuesday
How close is the world to having a Universal Calendar?
We are very close to having a Universal Calendar today. Much closer than we are to having a universal monetary system, a universal language, or a universal government.
Dies Mercuriis
Wednesday
What is a lunisolar calendar system?
a solar calendar that also indicates the phases of the moon in lunar months. It cannot indicate the position of Earth on its revolution as a pure solar calendar can, so it requires intercalation to adjust that over time, or recurring annual events will fall into different seasons from year to year
9 increasing increments of time measurement (in millennium) starting with a year
a year, or 0.001 millennium. a decade, or 0.01 millennium. a century, or 0.10 millennium. a millennium, or 1.0 millennium is 1000 years, no word for 10,000 or 100,000 years an age, or 1,000,000 years, 1,000.00 millennium an epoch, or 10,000,000 years, or 10,000 millennia an eon, or 500,000,000 years, 5,000,000 millennia
CE years
all AD years are equivalent (equal) to
BCE years
all BC years are equivalent (equal) to
BC years
all BCE years are equivalent (equal) to
AD years
all CE years are equivalent (equal) to
What portion of a calendar is human invention based on discovered information, like the wheel or a lever?
Some basic functions of a calendar are fabricated, like naming days and inventing weeks. But these are simply additional identifiers for the unnamed time between the calendar's higher natural functions, like lunar cycles, seasons, and years.
The most famous example of a prehistoric calendar:
Stonehenge, in present day England, was built by an unknown culture over 5,000 years ago with additional stones added in later centuries. It is proposed to be a complex prehistoric calendar, observatory, and place of ritual.
Some examples of the earliest ancient calendars:
Sumerian Calendar, Babylonian Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Zoroastrian Calendar, Assyrian Calendar, Ancient Hindu Calendar, Ancient Chinese Calendar, Mayan Calendar, and numerous Hellenic Calendars.
Dies Solis
Sunday
What civil calendar does most of the world use today?
The Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582
What calendar was used in Europe prior to the Gregorian calendar?
The Julian Calendar, which, like the Gregorian calendar was based on the ancient Roman calendar. The Julian calendar is still used today by the Greek and Russian Orthodox Church, in order to determine the dates for religious purposes.
Other examples of prehistoric calendars in Britain:
The Mesolithic calendar posts and Lunar-Calendar Pits at Warren Field in Aberdeenshire Scotland are over 10,000 years old, and represent the first known calendar. (citation: National Geographic)
AD or CE
all years after the approximate (estimated) birth of Jesus Christ.
BC or BCE
all years before the approximate (estimated) birth of Jesus Christ
How do calendars help us in our modern world as a common daily tool?
They help us see time at a glance as well as how and where our daily lives fit into its many hours, days and weeks.. They also let us look into the past and future to see what we did and what is coming up; so we can reflect, and we can plan.
AD stands for
anno Domini
in the year of the Lord
anno Domini is a Medieval Latin term that means "_____"
what is a Lunar calendar system.
any dating system based on a year consisting of complete cycles of phases of the Moon (synodic months).
How many days (or hours) per year does the Gregorian calendar miss from inclusion in its 365 day year?
approximately 0.25 days, or 6 hours, is not represented per year
How many different calendars are actively used today? (worldwide - 2018/19 approx.)
approximately 36 different calendars are actively used worldwide. (citation: science.com}
Calendars seem simple but they are very complex; having numerous functions on which the earliest civilizations depended. Here's an example of knowledge that calendars store or calculate.
They track stars, predict eclipses, count days between events, allow coordination between groups, facilitate schedules for deliveries, payments, religious festivals & Holy Days; predict seasons for planting & harvesting, track the age of people and things, and allow for history to be chronicled
BC stands for
before Christ
Mayan Calendar
solar calendar of 365.242 days (17 seconds off of today), ritual calendar of 260 days
Ides
the 13th day of the month
AD 1 to AD 100
the 1st century AD =
100 BC to 1 BC
the 1st century BC =
100 BCE to 1 BCE
the 1st century BCE =
1 CE to 100 CE
the 1st century CE =
Kalends
the 1st day of the month
Nones
the 5th day of the month
Which is the oldest calendar used in only one part of the world, but still in use today?
the Assyrian calendar, which is so old that Gregorian year 2019 AD = Assyrian year 6769
in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ
the full original phrase for "anno Domini" is "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to "_____"
What is intercalation?
the insertion of a leap day, week, or month into a calendar year to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases and to keep astronomical events like solstice and equinox on the same date in every yearly cycle
Gregorian calendar
the most widely used civil calendar in the world
centuries
the plural form of a century (more than one century)
decades
the plural form of a decade (more than one decade)
millennium
the plural form of millennia (more than one millennia)
AD 2018
the year "2018 CE" corresponds (is the same) as the year
400 BC
the year "400 BCE" corresponds (is the same) as the year
16th century BCE
the year 1600 BCE is in the _____
18th
the year 1750 BCE is in the _____ century BCE
18th century BCE
the year 1792 BCE is in the _____
19th century BCE
the year 1900 BCE is in the _____
4th century BCE
the year 323 BCE is in the _____
35th century BCE
the year 3500 BCE is in the _____
Lunar calendar system
uses lunar cycles instead of seasons to form months
word meaning "a period of one hundred years"
century (from the Latin word "centuria" meaning a group of one hundred things of like-kind)
What is the most recent major change made to the traditional Gregorian calendar?
changing BC, "before Christ" to BCE, "before common era" (sometimes written as simply CE)
word meaning "a period of ten years"
decade (from the Latin word "decas" - based on the Greek word for ten, "deka")
the full original phrase for "anno Domini" is "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to ("_____")
in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ
anno Domini is a Medieval Latin term that means ("_____")
in the year of the Lord
Muslim Calendar
is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days and festivals.
What calendar is today's (primary) calendar based on?
it is based on the Roman calendar; with a few minor changes
the plural form of "millennium"
millennia (or millenniums)
word meaning "a period of a thousand years"
millennium (from the Latin word "mille" meaning thousand, and "annus" meaning year)
IYYAR
2nd (ZIV) April—May 14 Late Passover (Nu 9:10-13) Wheat
What is the official calendar of Israel?
(The) Gregorian (calendar - the Hebrew/Jewish calendar is used to determine holy days and historic religious dates, but not used for daily business)
Hebrew Calendar
- Begins with the estimated date of the world's creation (3,760 years, 3 months B.C.) - 3,760 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar (ex. Gregorian 2000 is Hebrew 5760) - Hebrew year begins in Sep.-Oct. (ex. Mid-October 2000 is New Year 5761) - Based on the moon - Typically 12 months (Tishri, Heshran, Kislev, Tebet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, and Elul) - Every 19 years, the month Veadar (29 days long) is added and Adar becomes 30 days long to maintain seasons
X
10
II
2
2nd Century BC (is what date to what date)
200 BC - 101 BC
(in which century is) 3500 BC
35th century BC
What is the simple standard definition of a calendar?
A system of organizing time that defines the start-point, the length, and the various divisions of a year (citation: Webster's Dictionary, 2018)
all years after the approximate (estimated) birth of Jesus Christ.
AD or CE
anno Domini
AD stands for
What is the Gregorian calendar's classification name for all dates more recent than the first moment of "Year One"?
AD, Anno Domini (Latin: "in the year of our Lord")
According to the Hebrew calendar what year corresponded to the Gregorian year one?
AM 3760
What term was traditionally used (in the Gregorian calendar's classification for all dates prior to the first moment of "Year One"?
BC, Before Christ (although this term did not appear until much well into the second millennium AD. Prior to this English term, most historians and scholars Latin terms such as "Anno an xpi nativitate" ["in the year before the birth of Christ"])
Before Common Era
BCE stands for
Aprilis
April
math oriented calendars are called
Arithmetic calendars
Which Solar calendars are still in limited use?
Armenian, Rumi (Greg. 584 AD = Rumi 1 AH), Bahá'í (aka: Badi), Zoroastrian, Gaelic (Irish), Mesoamerican, Coptic,
Can there be multiple Civil Calendars used at the same time?
As a rule, every country on earth has the right to proclaim its own legal civil calendar as the official calendar of that country. However it does not have to be the same calendar as any other country, and there can be many specialized calendars used simultaneously.
calendars based on the stars & constellations are...
Astronomical calendars
all years before the approximate (estimated) birth of Jesus Christ
BC or BCE
before Christ
BC stands for
calendar proposal meant for keeping track of days and years on Mars
Darian calendar
December
December
Which Lunar calendars are extinct? (and used only for research)
Etruscan, Sumerian, Roman, Hellenic (Ancient Greek), Ancient Macedonian, Ancient Persian, Babylonian,
Dies Veneris
Friday
Roman origins (etymology) of the word "Calendar"
From two Latin words, "ca-lá-re," to call out, and "Calends", the first day of a new lunar cycle. The Priests watched the moon and then cried out, "Calends, new moon, new month". Debts were due on Calends, so it also refers to a list, or register.
Which major Western European country still used the churches Julian calendar into the mid 18th century and was the last to adopt the Gregorian calendar?
Great Britain (and it's territories - although all other major Western European already used Greorgian dating)
the most widely used civil calendar in the world
Gregorian calendar
What calendars "still in wide use" are based on the Solar calendar System?
Gregorian, Julian, Masonic, Ethiopian, Assyrian, Iranian (astronomical-sidereal),
What currently used calendars are based on the Lunar System?
Hebrew, Islamic,
Which calendars still "in wide use" are based on LuniSolar systems (using the cycles of both sun and moon)
Hindu, Chinese, Thai, Bengali,
Quintilis
July
Iunius
June
Nones and Ides - 2 days later
MMOJ- March, May, October, January
Martius
March
Maius
May
Given that a calendar is based on so much natural information, is it actually just existing phenomena that humans simply learned how to understand and use, like learning how to light a fire, but not actually inventing the fire itself?
Our Universe has many natural signals that define the passage of time. Humans recognized these signals through observation, leading to understanding, interpretation, and identification, until they were incorporated into daily life. This marked the beginnings of the first astrological calendars.
What is the term used for the one day before?
Pridie
What are the Kalends, Nones and Ides called?
Reckoning days
Dies Saturnis
Saturday
September
September
Was the Roman calendar used only in Rome or did it have a wider use?
The Roman calendar was a "Civil" calendar, used throughout the empire as the official calendar, even when most of the conquered nations that Rome ruled, had their own calendars, such as the Hebrew calendar in Judea, and the Ptolemaic calendar in Egypt..
Is a calendar an invention, like the wheel, or the lever, that utilizes information from nature, but is essentially fabricated? Or is the calendar a discovery, like fire, that was already there but that early humans discovered how to use?
The essence of what a calendar identifies and describes is founded in "natural calendar-signals", and then enhanced with further details some of which are fabricated. But the core of a calendar is essentially grounded in natural phenomena.
What natural phenomena were the first calendars in the Ancient World based on?
The first calendars were based on astronomy and other natural events significant to the passage of time such as phases of the moon, cycles of the sun, and patterns in the stars that stayed in fixed positions and/or moved in predictable ways
Gregorian Calendar
The solar calendar now in general use, introduced by Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct an error in the Julian calendar by suppressing 10 days, making Oct 5 be called Oct 15, and providing that only centenary years divisible by 400 should be leap years. Britain and British colonies moved from using the Julian calendar to Gregorian
What is a synodic month?
The time from one new moon to the next new moon -(The time it takes for a full cycle of phases which takes) 29.53 days.
Were there calendars before the ancient world?
There is evidence of calendars in prehistory which ancient calendars were most likely based on. However, each ancient-world culture had its own calendar, sometimes influenced by neighbors, but rarely identical. Calendars were often culture-specific, like language, religion, and architecture.
Examples of fabricated & natural measurements for time: in decreasing increments using seconds, starting with a century
a century, or 3,155,695,200.00 seconds ------------ fabricated a year, or 31,536,000.00 second -------------==----- NATURAL a week, or 604,800.00 seconds --------------------- fabricated a day, or 86,400.00 seconds ------------------------ NATURAL an hour, or 3,600.00 seconds ----------------------- fabricated a minute, or 60.00 seconds.-------------------------- fabricated a second, or 1.00 seconds, (1 s.) --------------------- fabricated a deci-second, or 0.10 seconds (1/10th s.) ---------- fabricated a centi-second, or 0.01 seconds (1/100th s.) -------- fabricated a milli-second, or 0.001 seconds (1/1,000th s.) ------ fabricated a micro-second, or 0.0001 seconds (1/10,000 s.) --- fabricated a nano-second, or 0.00001 seconds (1/100,000 s.) - fabricated
millennia
a period of a thousand years
century
a period of one hundred years
decade
a period of ten years
What does the term "Universal Calendar" mean?
a single unified calendar and calendar system that is used as the primary legal calendar for all people in all countries of the world