Calendars - Is It Time To Turn The Page?

It's probably hanging on the wall of your home and you may not notice it, most of the time. Some people write on it, to help them remember certain days. It could be the first source you turn to, when you need to locate a holiday, or try to figure out when daylight savings time begins. The calendar is always there, counting the days of your life. The calendar is a neutral item in your life, because even if it wasn't around, time would still pass.

The calendar looks like a simple device, it's just numbers on paper, but some of its history is anything but simple. The ancient Egyptians had the first solar calendar. Their calendar had 365 days and was divided into 12 30-day months, with 5 days of festivals. The Egyptian calendar was based on the Sun. The Roman calendar started out with only 10 months and 304 days; winter came after the 304 days, but those days weren't numbered. In 46 BC, the Julian calendar was created, this calendar consisted of 365 days a year and on every fourth year, one extra day was added, for leap year. The Julian calendar fell out of sync with the seasons, so in 1582, it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. England and its American colonies, didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752.

Most calendars can be identified by how they're synchronized. The lunar calendar is tied to the motion of the Moon; and a solar calendar relies on the Sun. Some calendars are in harmony with Venus. The calendars that follow Venus, are primarily used by people living near the Equator. There are calendars that don't identify with external forces and these are known as arbitrary calendars. Sometimes the elements of two different calendars are brought together. For instance, most calendars used in North America, contain parts of the Jewish and Gregorian calendars.

The calendar isn't perfect, which is probably why there've been so many, over the years. There have been a few ideas about changing the calendar system. Some people have suggested a perpetual calendar, which would have exactly 52 weeks in a year. The perpetual plan doesn't count certain days in the week, to keep it perpetual and it also modifies the 7-day week. Some people would like the year to have 13 months. Each month would be 28 days, which would equal 364 days a year. Since there hasn't been a public demand for change, the current calendar system will probably exist for years to come.

Although the public isn't concerned, if the calendar is in sync with the planets, people still look to the calendar to verify when the seasons change. Businesses use the calendar to specify, when the business year begins and when it ends.

Like anything that survives, the calendar has been able to adapt to a changing world. The invention of the clock, replaced the need for the calendar, as a means for keeping time. But the calendar still plays a role, in how people set their schedules and remember important moments in their lives.