Jack T. Chakhesang
The Nagaland calendar as printed by the State Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) is to be released by mid-January. The delay is perhaps because pictures of the recently held Hornbill Festival at Kisama are included in it. We get so used (and sometimes compelled) to buying calendars of so many organizations right from village level to Govt. departments and even business establishments but we rarely pause to ponder the significance of the calendar.
The calendar signifies time not only in terms of seconds, minutes and hours but in terms of days, weeks, months, years, decades and centuries as well. Various cultures have their own systems of calendars; however, the entire world today follows what is known as the Gregorian calendar. This was, however, preceded by the Julian calendar.
The Julian calendar, under which all Western nations measured time until AD 1582, was authorized by Julius Caesar in 40 BC. It called for a year of 363.25 days starting January with every fourth year being a “Leap Year” of 366 days, Saint Bede, an Anglo-Saxon monk, also known as the Venerable Bede announced in AD 730 that the Julian year was 11 (eleven) minutes, 14 (fourteen) seconds too long, a cumulative error of about a day every 128 years, but nothing was done about it.
By 1582 the accumulated error was estimated at 10 (ten) days. In that year, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that the day following Oct. 04, 1582 should be called Oct. 15, thus dropping ten days and initiating the Gregorian calendar.
The Gregorian calendar continued a system devised by the monk Dionysius Exigus (6th century), starting from the year following the birth of Jesus Christ, which was inaccurately taken to be year 763 in the Roman calendar. Leap years were continued but, to prevent further displacements, centesimal years (the years ending in 00) were made common years, not leap years unless divisible by 400. Under the plan, 1600 and 2000 were leap years (as was in 2004) but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not.
The Gregorian calendar was adopted at once by France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Luxembourg. Within two years most German Catholic States, Belgium, and parts of Switzerland and the Netherlands were brought under the new calendar, and Hungary followed in 1587. The rest of the Netherlands, along with Denmark and the German Protestant states made the change in 1699-1700.
The British government adopted the Gregorian calendar and imposed it on all its possessions including the American colonies and even British India, in 1752, decreeing that the day following Sept. 2, 1752, should be called Sept. 14, a loss of eleven days. All dates preceding were marked OS (for Old Style). In addition, New Year’s Day was moved to Jan. 01 from March 25 (under the old reckoning, for example, March 24, 1700 had been followed by March 25 1701). Thus first US President George Washington’s birthday which was Feb. 11 1731, OS, became Feb. 22, 1732 NS (New Style). In 1753, Sweden also went Gregorian.
In 1793 the French revolutionary government adopted a calendar of 12 (twelve) months of 30 days with five extra days in September of each common year and sixth every fourth year. Napoleon reinstated the Gregorian calendar in 1800.
The Gregorian system later spread to non-European regions, replacing traditional calendars at least for official purposes; Japan in 1873, Egypt in 1875, China in 1912 and Turkey in 1929 made the change, usually in conjunction with political upheaval. In China, the Republican government began reckoning years from its 1911 founding. After 1949, the People’s Republic adopted the Common, or Christian Era, year count even for the traditional lunar calendar which was also retained. In 1918 the Soviet Union decreed that the day after Jan. 31, 1918, OS, would be Feb. 14, 1918, NS. Greece changed over in 1923. For the first time in history, all major nations had one calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church and some other Christian sects retained the Julian calendar.
To convert from the Julian to the Gregorian, add ten days to dates Oct. 05, 1582, through Feb. 28, 1700; after that date add eleven days through Feb. 28, 1800; twelve days through Feb. 28, 1900, and 13 (thirteen) days through Feb. 28, 2100.
A century consists of 100 (hundred) consecutive years. The first century AD may be said to have run from the years 1 (one) to 100. The 20th century by this reckoning consisted of the years 1901 through 2000 and technically ended Dec. 31, 2000, as did the 2nd millennium AD. The 21st century thus technically began on January 01, 2001.
