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CALENDAR(from Latin calendae or kalendae, “calends” - the name of the first day of the month among the ancient Romans), a way of dividing the year into convenient periodic intervals of time. The main tasks of the calendar are: a) fixing dates and b) measuring time intervals. For example, task (a) involves recording the dates of natural phenomena, both periodic - equinoxes, eclipses, tides - and non-periodic, such as earthquakes. The calendar allows you to record historical and social events in their chronological sequence. One of the important tasks of the calendar is to determine the moments of church events and “drifting” holidays (for example, Easter). Function (b) of the calendar is used in the public sphere and in everyday life, where interest payments, wages and other business relationships are based on specific time intervals. Many statistical and scientific studies also use time intervals.

There are three main types of calendars: 1) lunar, 2) solar and 3) lunisolar.

Moon calendar

based on the length of the synodic, or lunar month (29.53059 days), determined by the period of change of lunar phases; the length of the solar year is not taken into account. An example of a lunar calendar is the Muslim calendar. Most peoples who use the lunar calendar consider the months to alternately consist of 29 or 30 days, so the average length of a month is 29.5 days. The length of the lunar year in this calendar is 12·29.5 = 354 days. The true lunar year, consisting of 12 synodic months, contains 354.3671 days. The calendar does not take this fractional part into account; Thus, over 30 years, a discrepancy of 11.012 days accumulates. Adding these 11 days every 30 years restores the calendar to the lunar phases. The main disadvantage of the lunar calendar is that its year is 11 days shorter than the solar year; therefore, the beginning of certain seasons according to the lunar calendar occurs year after year on increasingly later dates, which causes certain difficulties in public life.

Solar calendar

coordinated with the length of the solar year; in it, the beginning and duration of calendar months are not related to the change of lunar phases. The ancient Egyptians and Mayans had solar calendars; Nowadays, most countries also use the solar calendar. A true solar year contains 365.2422 days; but the civil calendar, to be convenient, must contain an integer number of days, therefore in the solar calendar an ordinary year contains 365 days, and the fractional part of the day (0.2422) is taken into account every few years by adding one day to the so-called leap year. The solar calendar is usually based on four main dates - two equinoxes and two solstices. The accuracy of a calendar is determined by how accurately the equinox falls on the same day each year.

Lunar-solar calendar

is an attempt to reconcile the length of the lunar month and the solar (tropical) year through periodic adjustments. To ensure that the average number of days per year according to the lunar calendar corresponds to the solar year, a thirteenth lunar month is added every 2 or 3 years. This trick is required to ensure that the growing seasons fall on the same dates each year. An example of a lunisolar calendar is given by the Jewish calendar, officially adopted in Israel.

TIME MEASUREMENT

Calendars use units of time based on the periodic movements of astronomical objects. The rotation of the Earth around its axis determines the length of the day, the revolution of the Moon around the Earth gives the length of the lunar month, and the revolution of the Earth around the Sun determines the solar year.

Sunny days.

The apparent movement of the Sun across the sky sets the true solar day as the interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the meridian at the lower culmination. If this movement reflected only the rotation of the Earth around its axis, then it would occur very uniformly. But it is also associated with the uneven movement of the Earth around the Sun and with the tilt of the Earth’s axis; therefore, the true solar day is variable. To measure time in everyday life and in science, the mathematically calculated position of the “average sun” and, accordingly, the average solar day, which have a constant duration, are used. In most countries, the beginning of the day is at 0 o'clock, i.e. at midnight. But this was not always the case: in biblical times, in Ancient Greece and Judea, as well as in some other eras, the beginning of the day was in the evening. For the Romans, in different periods of their history, the day began at different times of the day.

Moon month.

Initially, the length of the month was determined by the period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth, more precisely, by the synodic lunar period, equal to the time interval between two successive occurrences of identical phases of the Moon, for example, new moons or full moons. The average synodic lunar month (the so-called “lunar month”) lasts 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8 seconds. In biblical times, lunation was considered equal to 30 days, but the Romans, Greeks and some other peoples accepted the value measured by astronomers as 29.5 days as a standard. The lunar month is a convenient unit of time in social life, since it is longer than a day, but shorter than a year. In ancient times, the Moon attracted universal interest as an instrument for measuring time, since it is very easy to observe the expressive change of its phases. In addition, the lunar month was associated with various religious needs and therefore played an important role in the preparation of the calendar.

Year.

In everyday life, including when compiling a calendar, the word “year” means the tropical year (“year of the seasons”), equal to the time interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox. Now its duration is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 45.6 seconds, and every 100 years it decreases by 0.5 seconds. Even ancient civilizations used this seasonal year; According to the records of the Egyptians, Chinese and other ancient peoples, it is clear that the length of the year was initially taken to be 360 ​​days. But quite a long time ago the length of the tropical year was specified to 365 days. Later, the Egyptians accepted its duration as 365.25 days, and the great ancient astronomer Hipparchus reduced this quarter of a day by several minutes. The civil year did not always begin on January 1. Many ancient peoples (as well as some modern ones) began the year from the moment of the spring equinox, and in Ancient Egypt the year began on the day of the autumn equinox.

HISTORY OF CALENDARS

Greek calendar.

In the ancient Greek calendar, a normal year consisted of 354 days. But since it lacked 11.25 days to coordinate with the solar year, then every 8 years 90 days (11.25ґ8), divided into three equal months, were added to the year; this 8-year cycle was called an octaesteride. After about 432 BC. the Greek calendar was based on the Metonic cycle and then the Callippus cycle (see section on cycles and eras below).

Roman calendar.

According to ancient historians, at the beginning (c. 8th century BC) the Latin calendar consisted of 10 months and contained 304 days: five months of 31 days each, four months of 30 and one month of 29 days. The year began on March 1; from here the names of some months have been preserved - September (“seventh”), October (“eighth”), November (“ninth”) and December (“tenth”). The new day began at midnight. Subsequently, the Roman calendar underwent considerable changes. Before 700 BC Emperor Numa Pompilius added two months - January and February. Numa's calendar contained 7 months of 29 days, 4 months of 31 days and February with 28 days, which amounted to 355 days. Around 451 BC a group of 10 senior Roman officials (decemvirs) brought the sequence of months to its current form, moving the beginning of the year from March 1 to January 1. Later, a college of pontiffs was established, which carried out a reform of the calendar.

Julian calendar.

By 46 BC, when Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus, calendar dates were clearly at odds with natural seasonal phenomena. There were so many complaints that radical reform became necessary. To restore the previous connection of the calendar with the seasons, Caesar, on the advice of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, extended the 46th year BC, adding a month of 23 days after February and two months of 34 and 33 days between November and December. Thus, that year had 445 days and was called the “year of confusion.” Then Caesar fixed the duration of the ordinary year at 365 days with the introduction of one additional day every four years after February 24. This made it possible to bring the average length of the year (365.25 days) closer to the length of the tropical year. Caesar deliberately abandoned the lunar year and chose the solar year, since this made all insertions, except for the leap year, unnecessary. Thus Caesar established the length of the year exactly equal to 365 days and 6 hours; Since then, this meaning has been widely used: after three ordinary years there follows one leap year. Caesar changed the length of the months (Table 1), making February 29 days in a normal year and 30 days in a leap year. This Julian calendar, now often called the “old style,” was introduced on January 1, 45 BC. At the same time, the month of Quintilis was renamed July in honor of Julius Caesar, and the vernal equinox was shifted to its original date of March 25.

Augustian calendar.

After the death of Caesar, the pontiffs, apparently misunderstanding the instructions about leap years, added a leap year not every four years, but every three years, for 36 years. Emperor Augustus corrected this error by skipping three leap years in the period from 8 BC. to 8 AD From this point on, only years with a number divisible by 4 were considered leap years. In honor of the emperor, the month of Sextilis was renamed August. In addition, the number of days in this month was increased from 30 to 31. These days were taken from February. September and November were reduced from 31 to 30 days, and October and December were increased from 30 to 31 days, which maintained the total number of days in the calendar (Table 1). Thus, the modern system of months developed. Some authors consider Julius Caesar, not Augustus, to be the founder of the modern calendar.

Kalends, Ides and Nones.

The Romans used these words only in the plural, calling special days of the month. Kalends, as mentioned above, were called the first day of each month. The Ides were the 15th day of March, May, July (quintilis), October and the 13th day of the remaining (short) months. In modern calculations, the nones are the 8th day before the Ides. But the Romans took into account the Ides themselves, so they had nones on the 9th day (hence their name “nonus”, nine). The Ides of March was March 15 or, less specifically, any of the seven days preceding it: from March 8 to March 15 inclusive. The nones of March, May, July and October fell on the 7th day of the month, and in other short months - on the 5th day. The days of the month were counted backwards: in the first half of the month they said that so many days remained until the nons or ids, and in the second half - until the calendars of the next month.

Gregorian calendar.

The Julian year, with a duration of 365 days 6 hours, is 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the true solar year, therefore, over time, the onset of seasonal phenomena according to the Julian calendar occurred on increasingly earlier dates. Particularly strong discontent was caused by the constant shift in the date of Easter, associated with the spring equinox. In 325 AD The Council of Nicaea issued a decree on a single date for Easter for the entire Christian church. In subsequent centuries, many proposals were made to improve the calendar. Finally, the proposals of the Neapolitan astronomer and physician Aloysius Lilius (Luigi Lilio Giraldi) and the Bavarian Jesuit Christopher Clavius ​​were approved by Pope Gregory XIII. On February 24, 1582, he issued a bull introducing two important additions to the Julian calendar: 10 days were removed from the 1582 calendar - after October 4, October 15 followed. This allowed March 21 to be retained as the date of the vernal equinox, which it probably was in 325 AD. In addition, three out of every four century years were to be considered ordinary years and only those divisible by 400 were to be considered leap years. Thus, 1582 became the first year of the Gregorian calendar, often called the "new style". France switched to the new style the same year. Some other Catholic countries adopted it in 1583. Other countries adopted the new style over the years: for example, Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar from 1752; By leap year 1700, according to the Julian calendar, the difference between it and the Gregorian calendar was already 11 days, so in Great Britain, after September 2, 1752, September 14 came. In the same year in England, the beginning of the year was moved to January 1 (before that, the new year began on the day of the Annunciation - March 25). Retrospective correction of dates caused much confusion for many years, as Pope Gregory XIII ordered corrections of all past dates back to the Council of Nicaea. The Gregorian calendar is used today in many countries, including the United States and Russia, which abandoned the Eastern (Julian) calendar only after the October (actually November) Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Gregorian calendar is not absolutely accurate: it is 26 seconds longer than the tropical year. The difference reaches one day in 3323 years. To compensate for them, instead of eliminating three leap years out of every 400 years, it would be necessary to eliminate one leap year out of every 128 years; this would correct the calendar so much that in only 100,000 years the difference between the calendar and tropical years would reach 1 day.

Jewish calendar.

This typical lunisolar calendar has very ancient origins. Its months contain alternately 29 and 30 days, and every 3 years the 13th month Veadar is added; it is inserted before the month of Nissan every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th year of the 19-year cycle. Nissan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, although years are counted from the seventh month of Tishri. The insertion of Veadar causes the vernal equinox to always fall on a lunation in the month of Nissan. In the Gregorian calendar there are two types of years - ordinary and leap years, and in the Jewish calendar - an ordinary (12-month) year and an embolismic (13-month) year. In the embolismic year, of the 30 days inserted before Nissan, 1 day belongs to the sixth month of Adar (which usually contains 29 days), and 29 days make up Veadar. In fact, the Jewish lunisolar calendar is even more complex than described here. Although it is suitable for calculating time, but due to the use of the lunar month it cannot be considered an effective modern instrument of this kind.

Muslim calendar.

Before Muhammad, who died in 632, the Arabs had a lunisolar calendar with intercalary months, similar to the Jewish one. It is believed that the errors of the old calendar forced Muhammad to abandon additional months and introduce a lunar calendar, the first year of which was 622. In it, the day and the synodic lunar month are taken as the unit of reference, and the seasons are not taken into account at all. A lunar month is considered equal to 29.5 days, and a year consists of 12 months containing alternately 29 or 30 days. In a 30-year cycle, the last month of the year contains 29 days for 19 years, and the remaining 11 years contain 30 days. The average length of the year in this calendar is 354.37 days. The Muslim calendar is widely used in the Near and Middle East, although Turkey abandoned it in 1925 in favor of the Gregorian calendar.

Egyptian calendar.

The early Egyptian calendar was lunar, as evidenced by the hieroglyph for “month” in the form of a lunar crescent. Later, the life of the Egyptians turned out to be closely connected with the annual floods of the Nile, which became the starting point for them, stimulating the creation of a solar calendar. According to J. Breasted, this calendar was introduced in 4236 BC, and this date is considered the oldest historical date. The solar year in Egypt contained 12 months of 30 days, and at the end of the last month there were five more additional days (epagomen), giving a total of 365 days. Since the calendar year was 1/4 day shorter than the solar year, over time it became more and more at odds with the seasons. Observing the heliacal risings of Sirius (the first appearance of the star in the rays of dawn after its invisibility during the period of conjunction with the Sun), the Egyptians determined that 1461 Egyptian years of 365 days are equal to 1460 solar years of 365.25 days. This interval is known as the Sothis period. For a long time, the priests prevented any change in the calendar. Finally in 238 BC. Ptolemy III issued a decree adding one day to every fourth year, i.e. introduced something like a leap year. This is how the modern solar calendar was born. The Egyptians' day began with sunrise, their week consisted of 10 days, and their month consisted of three weeks.

Chinese calendar.

The prehistoric Chinese calendar was lunar. Around 2357 BC Emperor Yao, dissatisfied with the existing lunar calendar, ordered his astronomers to determine the dates of the equinoxes and, using intercalary months, create a seasonal calendar convenient for agriculture. To harmonize the 354-day lunar calendar with the 365-day astronomical year, 7 intercalary months were added every 19 years, following detailed instructions. Although solar and lunar years were generally consistent, lunisolar differences remained; they were corrected when they reached a noticeable size. However, the calendar was still imperfect: the years were of unequal length, and the equinoxes fell on different dates. In the Chinese calendar, the year consisted of 24 crescents. The Chinese calendar has a 60-year cycle, which begins in 2637 BC. (according to other sources - 2397 BC) with several internal periods, and each year has a rather funny name, for example, “year of the cow” in 1997, “year of the tiger” in 1998, “hare” in 1999, “dragon” in 2000, etc., which are repeated with a period of 12 years. After Western penetration into China in the 19th century. The Gregorian calendar began to be used in commerce, and in 1911 it was officially adopted in the new Republic of China. However, peasants still continued to use the ancient lunar calendar, but since 1930 it was banned.

Mayan and Aztec calendars.

The ancient Mayan civilization had a very high art of counting time. Their calendar contained 365 days and consisted of 18 months of 20 days (each month and each day had its own name) plus 5 additional days that did not belong to any month. The calendar consisted of 28 weeks of 13 numbered days each, amounting to a total of 364 days; one day remained extra. Almost the same calendar was used by the neighbors of the Mayans, the Aztecs. The Aztec calendar stone is of great interest. The face in the center represents the Sun. The four large rectangles adjacent to it depict heads symbolizing the dates of the four previous world eras. The heads and symbols in the rectangles of the next circle symbolize the 20 days of the month. Large triangular figures represent the rays of the sun, and at the base of the outer circle two fiery serpents represent the heat of the heavens. The Aztec calendar is similar to the Mayan calendar, but the names of the months are different.

CYCLES AND ERAS

Sunday letters

– is a diagram showing the relationship between the day of the month and the day of the week during any year. For example, it allows you to determine Sundays, and based on this, create a calendar for the whole year. The table of weekly letters can be written like this:

Each day of the year, except February 29 in leap years, is indicated by a letter. A specific day of the week is always indicated by the same letter throughout the year, with the exception of leap years; therefore, the letter that represents the first Sunday corresponds to all other Sundays of this year. Knowing the Sunday letters of any year (from A to G) you can completely restore the order of the days of the week for that year. The following table is useful:

To determine the order of the days of the week and create a calendar for any year, you need to have a table of Sunday letters for each year (Table 2) and a table of the structure of the calendar of any year with known Sunday letters (Table 3). For example, let's find the day of the week for August 10, 1908. In the table. 2, at the intersection of the centuries column with the line containing the last two digits of the year, Sunday letters are indicated. Leap years have two letters, and for full centuries such as 1900, the letters are listed in the top row. For Leap Year 1908, the Sunday letters will be ED. From the leap year part of the table. 3, using the letters ED we find the string of days of the week, and the intersection of the date “August 10” with it gives Monday. In the same way, we find that March 30, 1945 was a Friday, April 1, 1953 was a Wednesday, November 27, 1983 was a Sunday, etc.

Metonic cycle

shows the relationship between the lunar month and the solar year; therefore, it became the basis for the Greek, Hebrew and some other calendars. This cycle consists of 19 years of 12 months plus 7 additional months. It is named after the Greek astronomer Meton, who discovered it in 432 BC, unaware that China had known about it since 2260 BC. Meton determined that a period of 19 solar years contains 235 synodic months (lunars). He considered the length of the year to be 365.25 days, so 19 years were 6939 days 18 hours, and 235 lunations were equal to 6939 days 16 hours 31 minutes. He inserted 7 additional months into this cycle, since 19 years of 12 months add up to 228 months. It is believed that Meton inserted extra months in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th and 19th years of the cycle. All years, in addition to those indicated, contain 12 months, consisting alternately of 29 or 30 days, 6 years among the seven mentioned above contain an additional month of 30 days, and the seventh - 29 days. Probably the first Metonic cycle began in July 432 BC. The phases of the Moon are repeated on the same days of the cycle with an accuracy of several hours. Thus, if the dates of new moons are determined during one cycle, then they are easily determined for subsequent cycles. The position of each year in the Metonic cycle is indicated by its number, which takes values ​​from 1 to 19 and is called golden number(since in ancient times the phases of the moon were inscribed in gold on public monuments). The golden number of the year can be determined using special tables; it is used to calculate the date of Easter.

Callippus cycle.

Another Greek astronomer - Callippus - in 330 BC. developed Meton's idea by introducing a 76-year cycle (= 19ґ4). The Callippus cycles contain a constant number of leap years, while the Metonian cycle has a variable number.

Solar cycle.

This cycle consists of 28 years and helps to establish the connection between the day of the week and the ordinal day of the month. If there were no leap years, then the correspondence between the days of the week and the numbers of the month would regularly repeat with a 7-year cycle, since there are 7 days in a week, and the year can begin with any of them; and also because a normal year is 1 day longer than 52 full weeks. But the introduction of leap years every 4 years makes the cycle of repeating all possible calendars in the same order 28 years. The interval between years with the same calendar varies from 6 to 28 years.

Cycle of Dionysius (Easter). This 532-year cycle has components of a lunar 19-year cycle and a solar 28-year cycle. It is believed that it was introduced by Dionysius the Lesser in 532. According to his calculations, just in that year the lunar cycle began, the first in the new Easter cycle, which indicated the date of Christ’s birth in 1 AD. (this date is often the subject of dispute; some authors give the date of Christ's birth as 4 BC). The Dionysian cycle contains the complete sequence of Easter dates.

Epact.

Epact is the age of the Moon from new moon in days on January 1 of any year. Epact was proposed by A. Lilius and introduced by C. Clavius ​​during the preparation of new tables for determining the days of Easter and other holidays. Every year has its own impact. In general, to determine the date of Easter, a lunar calendar is required, but epact allows you to determine the date of the new moon and then calculate the date of the first full moon after the spring equinox. The Sunday following this date is Easter. Epact is more perfect than the golden number: it allows you to determine the dates of new moons and full moons by the age of the Moon on January 1, without calculating the lunar phases for the whole year. The complete table of epacts is calculated for 7000 years, after which the entire series is repeated. Epacts cycle through a series of 19 numbers. To determine the epact of the current year, you need to add 11 to the epact of the previous year. If the sum exceeds 30, then you need to subtract 30. This is not a very accurate rule: the number 30 is approximate, so the dates of astronomical phenomena calculated by this rule may differ from the true ones by a day. Before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, epacts were not used. The epact cycle is believed to have begun in 1 BC. with epact 11. The instructions for calculating epacts seem very complicated until you look into the details.

Roman Indicts.

This is a cycle introduced by the last Roman Emperor Constantine; it was used to conduct commercial affairs and collect taxes. The continuous sequence of years was divided into 15-year intervals - indicts. The cycle began on January 1, 313. Therefore, 1 AD. was the fourth year of indictment. The rule for determining the year number in the current index is as follows: add 3 to the Gregorian year number and divide this number by 15, the remainder is the desired number. Thus, in the Roman indict system, the year 2000 is numbered 8.

Julian period.

It is a universal period used in astronomy and chronology; introduced by the French historian J. Scaliger in 1583. Scaliger named it “Julian” in honor of his father, the famous scientist Julius Caesar Scaliger. The Julian period contains 7980 years - the product of the solar cycle (28 years, after which the dates of the Julian calendar fall on the same days of the week), the Metonic cycle (19 years, after which all phases of the Moon fall on the same days of the year) and the cycle of the Roman indicts (15 years). Scaliger chose January 1, 4713 BC as the beginning of the Julian period. according to the Julian calendar extended into the past, since all three of the above cycles converge on this date (more precisely, 0.5 January, since the beginning of the Julian day is taken to mean Greenwich noon; therefore, by midnight, from which January 1 begins, 0.5 Julian day). The current Julian period will end at the end of 3267 AD. (January 23, 3268 Gregorian calendar). In order to determine the year number in the Julian period, you need to add the number 4713 to it; the amount will be the number you are looking for. For example, 1998 was numbered 6711 in the Julian period. Each day of this period has its own Julian number JD (Julian Day), equal to the number of days that have passed from the beginning of the period until noon of this day. So, on January 1, 1993, the number was JD 2,448,989, i.e. By Greenwich noon of this date, exactly that many full days have passed from the beginning of the period. The date January 1, 2000 has the number JD 2 451 545. The Julian number of each calendar date is given in astronomical yearbooks. The difference between the Julian numbers of two dates indicates the number of days that have passed between them, which is very important to know for astronomical calculations.

Roman era.

The years of this era were counted from the founding of Rome, which is considered to be 753 BC. The year number was preceded by the abbreviation A.U.C. (anno urbis conditae - the year the city was founded). For example, the year 2000 of the Gregorian calendar corresponds to the year 2753 of the Roman era.

Olympic era.

The Olympics are 4-year intervals between Greek sports competitions held in Olympia; they were used in the chronology of Ancient Greece. The Olympic Games were held on the days of the first full moon after the summer solstice, in the month of Hecatombaeion, which corresponds to modern July. Calculations show that the first Olympic Games were held on July 17, 776 BC. At that time, they used a lunar calendar with additional months of the Metonic cycle. In the 4th century. During the Christian era, Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic Games, and in 392 the Olympiads were replaced by the Roman Indictments. The term "Olympic Era" appears frequently in chronology.

Era of Nabonassar.

It was one of the first introduced and named after the Babylonian king Nabonassar. The era of Nabonassar is of particular interest to astronomers because it was used to indicate dates by Hipparchus and the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy in his Almagest. Apparently, detailed astronomical research began in Babylon during this era. The beginning of the era is considered to be February 26, 747 BC. (according to the Julian calendar), the first year of Nabonassar's reign. Ptolemy began counting the day from the average noon on the meridian of Alexandria, and his year was Egyptian, containing exactly 365 days. It is not known whether the era of Nabonassar was used in Babylon at the time of its formal beginning, but in later times it apparently was used. Keeping in mind the “Egyptian” length of the year, it is easy to calculate that the year 2000 according to the Gregorian calendar is the year 2749 of the era of Nabonassar.

Jewish era.

The beginning of the Jewish era is the mythical date of the creation of the world, 3761 BC. The Jewish civil year begins around the autumnal equinox. For example, September 11, 1999 on the Gregorian calendar was the first day of 5760 on the Hebrew calendar.

Muslim era,

or the Hijri era, begins on July 16, 622, i.e. from the date of Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina. For example, April 6, 2000 according to the Gregorian calendar begins the year 1421 of the Muslim calendar.

Christian era.

Began on January 1, 1 AD. It is believed that the Christian era was introduced by Dionysius the Lesser in 532; time flows in it in accordance with the Dionysian cycle described above. Dionysius took March 25 as the beginning of the 1st year of “our” (or “new”) era, so the day is December 25, 1 AD. (i.e. 9 months later) was named the birthday of Christ. Pope Gregory XIII moved the start of the year to January 1. But historians and chronologists have long considered the day of the Nativity of Christ to be December 25, 1 BC. There was a lot of controversy about this important date, and only modern research has shown that Christmas most likely falls on December 25, 4 BC. Confusion in establishing such dates is caused by the fact that astronomers often call the year of Christ’s birth year zero (0 AD), which was preceded by 1 BC. But other astronomers, as well as historians and chronologists, believe that there was no zero year and just after 1 BC. follows 1 AD There is also no agreement on whether to consider years such as 1800 and 1900 the end of the century or the beginning of the next. If we accept the existence of a zero year, then 1900 will be the beginning of the century, and 2000 will also be the beginning of the new millennium. But if there was no year zero, then the 20th century does not end until the end of 2000. Many astronomers consider century years ending in "00" to be the beginning of a new century.

As you know, the date of Easter is constantly changing: it can fall on any day from March 22 to April 25 inclusive. According to the rule, Easter (Catholic) should be on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox (March 21). In addition, according to the English Breviary, "... if the full moon occurs on a Sunday, then Easter will be the following Sunday." This date, which has great historical significance, has been the subject of much debate and discussion. Pope Gregory XIII's amendments have been accepted by many churches, but since the calculation of the date of Easter is based on the lunar phases, it cannot have a specific date in the solar calendar.

CALENDAR REFORM

Although the Gregorian calendar is very accurate and quite consistent with natural phenomena, its modern structure does not fully correspond to the needs of social life. There has been talk for a long time about improving the calendar and even various associations have emerged to carry out such a reform.

Disadvantages of the Gregorian calendar.

This calendar has about a dozen defects. Chief among them is the variability of the number of days and weeks in months, quarters and half-years. For example, quarters contain 90, 91, or 92 days. There are four main problems:

1) Theoretically, the civil (calendar) year should have the same length as the astronomical (tropical) year. However, this is impossible, since the tropical year does not contain an integer number of days. Because of the need to add an extra day to the year from time to time, there are two types of years - ordinary and leap years. Since the year can start from any day of the week, this gives 7 types of ordinary years and 7 types of leap years, i.e. a total of 14 types of years. To fully reproduce them you need to wait 28 years.

2) The length of months varies: they can contain from 28 to 31 days, and this unevenness leads to certain difficulties in economic calculations and statistics.

3) Neither ordinary nor leap years contain an integer number of weeks. Semi-years, quarters and months also do not contain a whole and equal number of weeks.

4) From week to week, from month to month and even from year to year, the correspondence of dates and days of the week changes, so it is difficult to establish the moments of various events. For example, Thanksgiving always falls on Thursday, but the day of the month varies. Christmas always falls on December 25th, but on different days of the week.

Suggested improvements.

There are many proposals for calendar reform, of which the following are the most discussed:

International fixed calendar

(International Fixed Calendar). This is an improved version of the 13-month calendar proposed in 1849 by the French philosopher, founder of positivism, O. Comte (1798–1857). It was developed by the English statistician M. Cotsworth (1859–1943), who founded the Fixed Calendar League in 1942. This calendar contains 13 months of 28 days each; All months are the same and start on Sunday. Leaving the first six of the twelve months to have their usual names, Cotsworth inserted the 7th month “Sol” between them. One extra day (365 – 13ґ28), called the Day of the Year, follows December 28th. If the year is a leap year, then another Leap Day is inserted after June 28th. These “balancing” days are not taken into account in counting the days of the week. Cotsworth proposed abolishing the names of the months and using Roman numerals to denote them. The 13-month calendar is very uniform and easy to use: the year is easily divided into months and weeks, and the month is divided into weeks. If economic statistics used a month instead of half-years and quarters, such a calendar would be a success; but 13 months are difficult to divide into half-years and quarters. The sharp difference between this calendar and the current one also causes problems. Its introduction will require great effort to obtain the consent of influential groups committed to tradition.

World calendar

(World Calendar). This 12-month calendar was developed by decision of the International Commercial Congress of 1914 and was vigorously promoted by many supporters. In 1930, E. Ahelis organized the World Calendar Association, which has been publishing the Journal of Calendar Reform since 1931. The basic unit of the World Calendar is the quarter of the year. Every week and year starts on Sunday. The first three months contain 31, 30 and 30 days, respectively. Each subsequent quarter is the same as the first. The names of the months are kept as they are. Leap Year Day (June W) is inserted after June 30, and Year End Day (Peace Day) is inserted after December 30. Opponents of the World Calendar consider its disadvantage to be that each month consists of a non-integer number of weeks and therefore begins with an arbitrary day of the week. Defenders of this calendar consider its advantage to be similar to the current calendar.

Perpetual calendar

(Perpetual Calendar). This 12-month calendar is offered by W. Edwards of Honolulu, Hawaii. Edwards' perpetual calendar is divided into four 3-month quarters. Every week and every quarter starts on Monday, which is very beneficial for business. The first two months of each quarter contain 30 days, and the last - 31. Between December 31 and January 1 there is a holiday - New Year's Day, and once every 4 years between June 31 and July 1, Leap Year Day appears. A nice feature of the Perpetual Calendar is that Friday never falls on the 13th. Several times, a bill was even introduced into the US House of Representatives to officially switch to this calendar.

Literature:

Bickerman E. Timeline of the ancient world. M., 1975
Butkevich A.V., Zelikson M.S. Perpetual calendars. M., 1984
Volodomonov N.V. Calendar: past, present, future. M., 1987
Klimishin I.A. Calendar and chronology. M., 1990
Kulikov S. Thread of Times: Small Encyclopedia of the Calendar. M., 1991

13th Lunar day, mysterious and mystical, they seem to open the door between earth and sky; today you can comprehend the unknown. The number 13 corresponds to the constellation Ophiuchus - it is also called the constellation of magicians. This is a day of predictions and fortune telling. Predictions received on this day can greatly change your destiny. This is also the day of receiving information that will definitely be useful to you in the future. Today it is very good to purchase talismans and various amulets; they will have a special connection with you.

Second phase (quarter) of the Moon

Element: Water. Approximately on the eighth or ninth lunar day from the beginning, the first quarter of the Moon begins, or is also commonly called. During this period, the fluid level in the human body concentrates in the middle of the chest. In this regard, diseases of the organs that are located here may occur if there are hidden pathologies. You need to pay attention to the changes occurring in the body, especially when they are not for the better. If the body begins to have problems that you yourself are not yet aware of, the second phase of the moon is the time to identify them. At this time, a person becomes sensitive, energy continues to increase, but not as actively and rapidly as in.

MOON IN VIRGO h 01° 37" 31"

During this period, people become more rational, reasonable and practical. However, at the same time, pedantry also awakens in their character: they quarrel over trifles, find fault with loved ones, pay attention to insignificant things, missing the main thing. These days, quarrels often occur over such trifles that are not worth the slightest attention, but on Virgo days they seem serious and significant.

Virgo days also give people good character traits - for example, discipline, responsibility, attentiveness and concentration. Complex work that requires great concentration and precision of action is carried out without any problems. People become cautious, judicious and careful. They do not strive to get rid of the problem in one fell swoop, but trust their mind. Unfortunately, we are talking about everyday, small, everyday matters. If we talk about global decisions and risky projects, then people feel an acute lack of intuition, natural instinct and the ability to calculate events in advance. It is best to do tedious, monotonous and time-consuming work, and postpone important responsible steps until later.

Moon without course (from March 18 18:19 to March 19 4:41)

The term " " refers to the period of the Moon's state when it is between the last major aspect with a planet in the current sign, and the moment of transition into the next sign.

• Do not start new projects, important things with far-reaching plans.
• Avoid important meetings with new people during this period.
• Don't make expensive purchases.

How to use the Moon period without a course

• It's a good time to clear away the rubble and bring order to your desk or home.
• A good time for yoga, meditation or spiritual practices.
• Rest and sleep will quickly restore your strength.
• Fun activities and meetings with friends.
• Good time to travel.
• Strengthened intuition or sixth sense will help in finding unresolved, internal psychological problems. The best time to listen to your inner self.

The connection of the calendar with the Moon, as an astronomical phenomenon, occurred in ancient times.

There is a version that the Lunar calendar first appeared in Mesopotamia, on the territory of modern Iraq, in the city-states of the ancient Sumerians in the third millennium BC.

However, scientists continue to debate when exactly the lunar calendar appeared. But agree on its primacy. The fact is that the change in phases of the Moon is one of the most easily observed celestial phenomena. That is why many ancient peoples- Babylonians, Jews, Greeks, Chinese - originally used the lunar calendar.

During the period of change of lifestyle from nomadic to sedentary, the Lunar calendar ceased to satisfy. Since agricultural work is tied to the change of seasons, that is, the movement of the Sun. Therefore, lunar calendars, with rare exceptions, began to be replaced by lunisolar or solar calendars. One exception is the Muslim calendar. It is based only on changes in lunar phases. Therefore it is purely lunar.

What calendar did our ancestors use? Historians have long known that ancient Rus' used a lunisolar calendar. Our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. The lunar calendar, due to the climate of our country, of course, was not enough.

The modern solar calendar, as you well understand, is much easier to use. There are established “rules”, for example that a new day always begins at 00:00 hours.

The “irregularities” that we encounter when using the modern calendar are only that one month lasts 30 days, and the other - 31 days. The only exception is one month - February.

In the Lunar calendar, on the contrary, everything is very fluid. Just as water is mobile and changeable, it is the Moon that has the greatest influence on it (causing ebbs and flows).

However, if we take a closer look at both the official calendar and reality, we will see that the “once and for all” established rules do not affect how nature behaves. Winter can start early, and already at the end of October (the official autumn month) there may be snow and persistent sub-zero temperatures. In another year, autumn weather may last until the first days of December.

In nature, everything is changeable and mobile. Naturally, the influence of the Moon on the Earth and on human life did not stop due to the fact that the Lunar calendar was practically stopped being used. We are not only social creatures, but also “children of nature.” That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain flexibility, mobility, and changeability. It is important for our health and well-being to learn to feel the rhythms of nature. And the Lunar calendar provides significant assistance in this.

For example, our body reacts sensitively to changing lunar phases. When the phase of the Moon changes, the water balance shifts, the dynamics of water exchange changes, which, of course, cannot but affect our organs, systems and body functions. This affects not only our health and well-being, but also our psychological state.

As our internal state changes, our behavior also changes. That is why knowledge about the basic patterns described in the Lunar calendar helps us to be more successful in many areas of life. When we don’t know at what moment it’s better to act and what area of ​​life is worth putting effort into at this moment, we often try to hit the wall with our heads, not seeing that there is a door nearby. When we understand the natural rhythms that affect us, we can ride the energetic wave, just as a sailboat moves when pulled by the force of the wind.

Basic concepts of the Lunar calendar:

• Lunar events (New Moon, Full Moon, Eclipse)
• Conditions of the Moon: Waxing (young) and Waning (defective or aging) Moon

Unique Lunar calendar “Rhythms of Life”

I tell you good news. The creation of a new unique Lunar calendar has been completed. This Lunar calendar called “Rhythms of Life” is SOMETHING SPECIAL.

It summarizes recommendations on the influence of several aspects of the Moon (lunar day, phase of the Moon, Moon in a sign, full moon-new moon, waxing-waning Moon) for each calendar day. “Rhythms of Life” includes detailed recommendations on health, nutrition, family, beauty, everyday life, lifestyle and business.

The lunar calendar “Rhythms of Life” was developed for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Kyiv, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, New York, Paris, Berlin. Based on your request, we will develop “Rhythms of Life” for any city.

In the previous material, we briefly reviewed the history of chronology in the Western world. Turning to the Muslim Middle Ages, we will see that Muslim scientists, earlier than their European colleagues, developed a more advanced and accurate system of calculating time. However, although the chronology systems were superior to European calendars in accuracy, they also required high scientific knowledge, complex calculations and the use of astronomical instruments and observation instruments. In general, accurate calendars for calculating time and the outstanding achievements of Muslim scientists in the field of astronomy and maritime navigation were the result of much scientific work.

However, the hadith already mentioned:

“We are an illiterate community: we do not write or count” implies that the calendar proposed for public use in the Islamic world should be based on a very simple and clear method that does not require writing and counting. The chronology used for the everyday religious needs of the population should be a counting system based on simple things, visible and understandable, as they say, “with the naked eye.”

It is for this reason that, when it comes to worship and other religious matters, the Islamic Sharia adopted not the solar, but the lunar calendar. It must be remembered that this in no way detracts from the achievements of Muslim natural scientists in creating an accurate solar calendar. The Shariah's preference for recording time according to the phases of the moon does not mean a rejection of the use of the solar calendar.

Let's take a closer look at the basics lunar calendar.

The Moon completes its orbit during a period of time equal to twenty-seven days, seven hours, forty-three minutes and four point seven seconds. This period of time is called a lunar day. If the balance exceeding 27 days is converted to decimal fractions, the result is 0.321582 days.

Thus, a lunar day is equal to 27.321582 earth days.

The time that passes between two new moons is twenty-nine Earth days, twelve hours, forty-four minutes and two point nine seconds. If the remainder exceeding whole days is converted to decimal fractions, the result is 0.530589 days.

Thus, one lunar month is equal to 29.530589 days. Therefore, a lunar year consisting of twelve months turns out to be equal to: 12 × 29.530589 = 354.327068 days.

In other words, one lunar year is equal to three hundred fifty-four whole and three hundred twenty-seven thousand sixty-eight millionths of a day.

If we assume that the months are equal to alternately 30 and 29 days, then it turns out that there is an inaccuracy of approximately 0.030589 days in each month. Over the course of one year, this distortion reaches 0.367068 days.

Over thirty years, the inaccuracy reaches 30×0.367068 = 11.012204 days. In other words, for every thirty years the distortion accumulates, barely exceeding eleven days.

If we believed that there are 354 days in each lunar year, then in this case (relative to the solar calendar) eleven “extra” days would accumulate every thirty years, and thirty-three days every ninety years. That is, after the first ninety years, the beginning of the month of Muharram would be on the 27th day of the month of Dhu-l-Qaad, the beginning of Ramadan on the 27th day of the month of Rajab. This would lead to the complete nullification of religious acts such as fasting, Hajj and Eid al-Adha. This would lead to the reintroduction of the abominable practice of nasi', prohibited by the Qur'an, and the loss of respect for the Holy Months.

It would take about 965 years for the lunar months, which move forward by eleven days every thirty years, to return to their original positions.

To avoid such large distortions, Muslim scholars decided to add eleven days to each thirty-year cycle. In other words, they decided that in eleven out of every thirty years there are not 354, but 355 days, i.e. eleven years are leap years.

According to this establishment of Muslim scholars, leap years in each thirty-year cycle are: 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th -th and 29th years.

Does this method of establishing leap years allow completely avoid distortion chronology?

If one month were equal to only 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, then this method of determining leap years could completely solve the problem of distortions. For 44 “extra” minutes of each month during the year would turn into: 12x44 = 528 minutes. Every thirty years: 30×528 = 15840 minutes. In other words, exactly eleven days of distortion would accumulate without a trace. Thus, eleven leap years, over which these eleven days would be distributed, would completely eliminate the problem of the inaccuracy of the lunar calendar relative to the solar one.

But one month is not equal to only 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. There are still two point nine (2.9) seconds to spare.
Therefore, each year accumulates: 12×2.9 = 34.8, and in each thirty-year cycle: 30×34.8 = 1044 seconds of surplus. Over the course of three hundred years, this value reaches 10,440 seconds, over three thousand years – 104,400 seconds. The last number is equal to a full twenty-four unaccounted hours. And this is a whole day! Within thirty thousand years, the number of unaccounted days will exceed twelve days.

If we express this in decimal fractions, we get the following:

Every 30 years the remainder will be 11.01204 days.

Eleven wholes of this remainder are introduced into circulation by adding eleven leap years. But there remains still 0.01204 “unrested” surplus. This surplus reaches 1.204 days over three thousand years, and 12.04 days over thirty thousand years. That is 12 days and about one hour beyond that.

Such a significant error in lunar reckoning, although extended over a colossal period of time, nevertheless indicates the imperfection of such a method as adding leap years.

For this reason, our Islamic Sharia needs accurate calculations. But he does not take into account calendar years, due to the fact that no matter how carefully they are recorded, errors cannot be avoided. This idea can be expressed even better: Sharia did not order people to follow a chronology system that was fundamentally incorrect, and therefore required accurate calculations, but tied the execution of acts of a religious nature to astronomical years. Since calendar years are never the same as astronomical years, being either longer or shorter than them, Islamic Sharia has never tied worship and other religious acts to calendar years.

In the continuation of the material, we will look at the reason why Sharia preferred the lunar calendar.

Aidar Khairutdinov