Facts about the Julian calendar. Five interesting facts about the calendar Calendar interesting facts for kids

1. To date, it is impossible to say exactly how many calendars existed. Here is the most complete list of them: Armelina, Armenian, Assyrian, Aztec, Bahai, Bengal, Buddhist, Babylonian, Byzantine, Vietnamese, Gilburda, Holocene, Gregorian, Georgian, Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Indian, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Persian, Ancient Slavic, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Indian, Inca, Iranian, Irish, Islamic, Chinese, Konta, Coptic, Malay, Maya, Nepalese, New Julian, Roman, Symmetrical, Soviet, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, Turkmen, French, Canaanite, Juche, Sumerian, Ethiopian, Julian, Javanese, Japanese.

2. Collecting pocket calendars is called philotaymia or calendaring.

3. Over the entire existence of the calendar, very original and unusual calendars have appeared from time to time. For example, a calendar in verse. The first of these was released on one sheet, in the form of a wall poster. The "Chronology" calendar was compiled by Andrei Rymsha and printed in the city of Ostrog by Ivan Fedorov on May 5, 1581.

4. The very first calendar in the form of a miniature book went out of print on the eve of 1761. This is the "Court Calendar", which can still be seen in the State Public Library named after M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in St. Petersburg.

5. The first Russian tear-off calendars appeared at the end of the 19th century. The publisher I. D. Sytin began to print them on the advice that was given to him by none other than ... Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

6. The first pocket calendar (about the size of a playing card), with an illustration on one side and the calendar itself on the other, was first released in Russia in 1885. It was printed in the printing house of the Partnership of I. N. Kushnaerev and Co. This printing house still exists, only it is now called "Red Proletarian".

7. The smallest calendar in history weighs only 19 grams including the binding. It is kept in the Matenadaran (Armenian Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) and is a manuscript less than a matchbox in size. It contains 104 parchment sheets. It is written in the calligraphic handwriting of the scribe Ogsent and is only readable with a magnifying glass.

8. The largest pocket calendar (1400 square centimeters) was made in 1976 by Vneshtorgizdat for the Sovexportfilm association. The calendar was a block-coupling on a single sheet of paper. The sheet was perforated and was torn into 24 small calendars with portraits of Soviet movie stars.

9. The "shortest" calendars were published in 1918, since this year was the shortest in the history of our country - only 352 days. In accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic", the calculation of time according to the so-called "new style" was introduced in our country. As a result of the temporary “correction”, the year became 13 days shorter. Immediately after January 31 came February 14. The largest number of weeks in the calendar (72 instead of the current 52) ​​was in 1930. In the USSR, a "continuous calendar" was introduced with a 5-day week.

10. Once a strange calendar was issued by the Volgograd offset printing factory: it had two Februarys, two Marches, two Augusts and two Septembers. January, October, November and ... the year itself was not foreseen at all ... This masterpiece of printing thought can compete, perhaps, only with a mini-calendar with the emblem of the magazine "Sobriety and Culture" in 1987, each month of which contained 31 days...

11. The largest collection of calendars is in the State Archives of Printing at the Book Chamber. From all the printing houses of the country, the so-called “control copies” of not only books, but also calendars, come here for eternal storage. About 40 thousand names of calendars of all varieties are collected here.

12. After the accomplishment of the French Revolution in 1793, the National Convention reformed the calendar and time units. The year was divided into 12 months strictly of 30 days each, and the month consisted of 3 decades of 10 days, of which only one day was a day off for civil servants. The remaining 5 or 6 days of the year, the so-called sans-culotides, did not belong to any month. According to the new rules, a day was divided into 10 hours, an hour into 100 minutes, and a minute into 100 seconds, and thus each new second corresponded to 0.864 of the old second. On January 1, 1806, Napoleon abolished this system and returned the calendar familiar to us.

13. The leap year was introduced by Gaius Julius Caesar. February 24th was called "the sixth day before the March kalends", and the extra day fell on the next day and became the "second sixth day", in Latin "bis sextus", from where the word "leap year" came from.

14. In the Pacific state of Samoa, there was no whole day - December 30, 2011. This decision was made by his authorities in order to change the time zone from UTC-11 to UTC + 13. The fact is that earlier Samoa in its trade relations was focused on the USA and Great Britain, but in recent times there was a reorientation of business ties to Australia and New Zealand, to which Samoa is closer geographically. The jump in the calendar made it possible to eliminate the daily time difference with these countries.

15. Friday the 13th is not always considered the unluckiest day of the calendar. In Greece and Spanish-speaking countries, the Tuesday that falls on the 13th is traditionally feared. And in Italy - Fridays, but on the 17th, because Italians fear the number 17 much more than 13. However, the fear of such numbers can have the opposite effect on the likelihood of misfortunes. For example, the Dutch insurance statistics center has calculated that there are fewer accidents and insured events on Friday the 13th days than on ordinary days, as people tend to be more careful or not leave the house at all.

16. In the culture of the peoples of the African state of Ghana, great importance is attached to the day of the week on which a person was born - it is believed that this affects his entire life. further fate. Almost all children receive a first or middle name according to this day. For example, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, has the name Kofi meaning "Friday." And for the popular Chelsea footballer Michael Kojo Essien, the name Kojo means "Monday".

17. The metro in Baku was launched in 1967, and one of the stations was called "April 28" - in honor of the day when Soviet power was established in Azerbaijan. After the republic's secession from the USSR, the station was "upgraded" for exactly a month. Now it is called "May 28" - in honor of the Republic Day public holiday.

18 . In 1699, Sweden decided to switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian. However, the Swedes did not jump forward 11 days accumulated by that time, but decided to make the transition gradually, skipping leap years for 40 years. However, despite the adopted plan, 1704 and 1708 were leap years. Because of this, for 11 years the Swedish calendar was one day ahead of the Julian calendar, but ten days behind the Gregorian. In 1711 the king Charles XII decided to abandon the reform of the calendar and return to the Julian calendar. For this, two days were added in February, and thus in 1712 it was February 30th. Sweden finally switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1753 in the usual way for all countries.

19 . Pi has two unofficial holidays. The first is March 14, because this day in America is written as 3.14. The second is July 22, which is written 22/7 in the European format, and the value of such a fraction is a fairly popular approximate value of pi.

20. In Korea, a person grows up for a year not on his birthday, but on January 1st. When a baby is born, it is automatically considered one year old (rounded time in the womb), and on January 1 of the following year it becomes 2 years old. It is important for teachers and educators of young children to specify what age they were told - Korean or Western.

21. Material for pocket calendars is used the most diverse. Calendars are printed on paper and cardboard, on tin, silk and leather. In the second decade of the 20th century, calendars appeared on aluminum - on metal, which was just beginning to enter everyday life at that time.

22. Since 1986 pocket calendars have been produced in large numbers in the USSR. Until this year, the total number of pocket calendars issued in the USSR is estimated at 20,000 to 22,000 types. After 1986, the same number of calendar cards began to appear every five years (1987 - 1991, 1992 - 1996), and then just every two years (1998 - 1999).

23 . One of the mass producers of pocket calendars in the USSR was the Leningrad Color Printing Plant (LCCP). Calendars were even put in decks playing cards issued by LKCP (52 cards each) from the 1970s to the 2000s - a year or two ahead. These calendars were usually with drawings and engravings of Leningrad by various artists, in one color paint, produced by the same plant and often without imprint, for example, prices, since they were not sold separately. So, in a deck of cards in 1980, 2 calendars for 1982 with the silhouettes of the city are embedded Green colour works by A. Ivanov, in the deck of 1993 - a calendar with a blue engraving of the Peter and Paul Fortress for 1995, in the deck of 1998 - an image of the sculptural group of Klodt's horses on the Anichkov Bridge in orange for 1999, etc.

Interesting Facts about chronology in different countries

The calendar is a rhythm that is designed to unite the outer universe with the inner man into a kind of harmonious whole. The attitude to time testifies not only to a certain level of culture, but is also an expression of those internal features that distinguish one culture from another. Naturally, the attitude to time within a single culture affects, first of all, the calendar.

However, the calendar is not only a rhythm, but also a rhythmic memory of mankind.

Even the most ancient of calendars, such as the solar calendar ancient egypt or the solar-lunar calendar of Babylon, with their periodically recurring cycles of religious holidays, have always pursued one important goal: to be, first of all, reliable keepers of the memory of what lay in the fundamental principle of each of the cultures.

Jewish calendar- is a religious calendar and the official calendar of Israel. This is a combined solar-lunar calendar. Years are calculated from the creation of the world, which according to Judaism took place in 3761 BC. This year corresponds to the year of the world (Anno Mundi) the first. For example, 1996 corresponds to the Jewish year 5757.

Eastern (Chinese) calendar, which has been in force for several thousand years in Vietnam, Kampuchea, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan and some other Asian countries, was compiled in times in the middle of the third millennium BC. This calendar is a 60-year cyclical system.

The Chinese sixty-year-old was formed as a result of the combination of the duodecimal cycle (“earthly branches”), for each year of which the name of the animal was assigned, and the decimal cycle of the “elements” (“heavenly branches”): five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) , each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs, personifying the male and female principles (therefore, in the Chinese calendar there are consecutive years corresponding to different animals, but one element).

The Chinese calendar does not count years in an endless sequence. Years have names that repeat every 60 years.

Historically, years were counted from the year of the emperor's accession to the throne, which was abolished after the 1911 revolution. In accordance with Chinese tradition, the first year of the reign of the semi-legendary Yellow Emperor Huang Di was 2698 BC. The alternative system is based on the fact that the first historical record of the beginning of the 60-day cycle was made on March 8, 2637 BC.

This date is considered the date of invention of the calendar, and all cycles are counted from this date.

Timekeeping in Japan is a Chinese invention. Each emperor, ascending the throne, approved the motto under which his reign would pass. In ancient times, the emperor sometimes changed the motto if the beginning of the reign was unsuccessful.

In any case, the beginning of the emperor's motto was considered the first year of the new reign, and new era- the period of government under this motto. All mottos are unique, so they can be used as a universal time scale.

During the Meiji Restoration (1868), a unified Japanese chronology system was introduced, dating back to 660 BC. - the legendary date of the founding of the Japanese state by Emperor Jimmu.

This system was actively used only until the end of the Second World War.

Long term isolation Indian Principalities from each other led to the fact that almost each of them had its own local calendar system. Until recently, several official civil calendars and about thirty local calendars were used in the country, which served to determine the time of various religious holidays and ceremonies. Among them you can find solar, lunar and lunisolar.

The most popular in India is the Samvat calendar (vikram samvat), in which the duration solar year to some extent related to duration. lunar months. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book The Discovery of India, written in 1944, points to the widespread use of the Samvat calendar. He wrote that "in most parts of India, the vikram samvat calendar is followed." In April 1944, celebrations dedicated to the Samvat calendar were widely celebrated throughout India. They were associated with the 2000th anniversary of the introduction of the Vikram Samvat era at that time.

Since the Vikram Samvat era starts from 57 BC, therefore, the year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 2067-2068 of the Samvat calendar.

In the southern part of the country, the Saka civil calendar is widely used, in which the counting of years begins on March 15, 78 AD. The New Year is celebrated on it around April 12 with a discrepancy of two to three days. The year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 1932-1933 of the Saka calendar.

In India, other eras were also used for a long time, such as the era of Kali Yuga, which dates back to February 18, 3102 BC; the era of Nirvana, which has been counting since 543 BC. - the estimated date of death of the Buddha Sakya Muni. The Fazli era was also used - one of the last historical eras in India. It was introduced by the padishah Akbar (1542-1606), but it was used only in official documents. The epoch of this era is the date September 10, 1550 AD.

The Gregorian calendar, which began to be used in India since 1757, is also widely used. At present, almost all published books, magazines and newspapers are dated by the Gregorian calendar, but double dating is common: according to the Gregorian calendar and according to the local civil one.

The complexity of the calendar systems turned out to be so significant that the government of India was forced to reform and introduce a single national calendar. For this purpose, in November 1952, under the chairmanship of the greatest scientist, Professor Meghnad Saha, a special committee for the reform of the calendar was created. By decision of the government, it was adopted in India on March 22, 1957 for civil and public purposes. To perform religious rites, it was not forbidden to use local calendars.

Mayan calendar originates from the mythical date - August 13, 3113 BC. It was from her that the Indians counted the past years and days. The starting point plays the same role for the Maya as the date of the "Christmas" in the European chronology. Why precisely August 13, 3113 BC? modern science until I was able to explain it. Presumably this day, in the views of the Mayans, was marked by a cataclysm such as the Flood or something like that.

In the Mayan calendar, time is divided into cycles or "Suns". There are six in total. Each cycle, the Mayan priests claimed, ends with the alleged complete destruction of the earth's civilization. The past four "Suns" completely destroyed the four human races, and only a few people survived and told what happened. The "First Sun" lasted 4008 years and ended with earthquakes. The "Second Sun" lasted 4010 years and ended with hurricanes. The "Third Sun" totaled 4081 years - the earth was destroyed by "fiery rains" that poured from the craters of huge volcanoes. The "Fourth Sun" was crowned with floods. At present, earthlings are experiencing the "Fifth Sun", the end of which will be on December 21, 2012. The sixth cycle in the calendar is empty...

Already in the first centuries of formation Christianity attempts were made to bridge the chronological gap between modernity and the sacred events described in the Bible. As a result of the calculations, about 200 different versions of the era “from the creation of the world”, or “from Adam”, appeared, in which the period of time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ ranged from 3483 to 6984 years. Three so-called world eras became most widespread: Alexandrian (starting point - 5501, in fact 5493 BC), Antioch (5969 BC) and later Byzantine.

In the 6th century, the world era began to be used in Byzantium with the beginning of March 1, 5508 BC. The number of days in it was conducted from Adam, who, based on biblical premises, was created on Friday, March 1, 1 of this era. Based on the fact that this happened in the middle of the sixth day of creation, by analogy it was assumed that Jesus was born in the middle of the sixth millennium, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Pet. 3, 8).

In the Nile Valley, where a calendar was created in time immemorial, which existed with Egyptian culture about 4 centuries. The origin of this calendar is associated with Sirius - the brightest star in the sky, sung by many poets. So, Sirius gave Egypt the world's first solar calendar, which underlies the chronology of the entire Old World, up to the present.

The fact is that the time interval between the first two morning sunrises of Sirius, which equally coincided in Egypt with the summer solstice and the flood of the Nile, is just 365 and 1/4 days, well known to us. However, the Egyptians set an integer number of days as the length of their year, namely 365. Thus, for every 4 years, seasonal phenomena were ahead of the Egyptian calendar by 1 day. Obviously, in order for Sirius to go through all the dates of the shortened year (out of 365 days), it took already 365 × 4 = 1460 days. But again, bearing in mind that the Egyptian year is shorter than the solar year by 1/4 day (6 hours), then in order to return exactly to the same date of the Egyptian calendar, Sirius needed one more year (1460+1=1461). This cyclical period in 1461 Egyptian year is the famous "Sotic period" (Great Year of Sothis).

ancient greek calendar was lunisolar with primitive and irregular intercalation rules. From about 500 B.C. Octateria (octaeteris) - 8-year cycles, in which five ordinary years of 12 months were combined with three years of 13 months, became widespread. Subsequently, these rules were borrowed by the Roman calendar. Octateries in Greece continued to be used even after Julius Caesar's reform. The beginning of the year was in the middle of summer.

In the second half of the 3rd century BC. e. Ancient Greek historian Timaeus and mathematician Eratosthenes introduced the chronology from the first Olympic Games. The games were held once every four years on days close to the summer solstice. They began on the 11th and ended on the 16th day after the new moon. When counting years for the Olympiads, each year was designated by the serial number of the games and the number of the year in the four years. The first Olympic Games opened on July 1, 776 BC. according to the Julian calendar. In 394 AD Emperor Theodosius I Olympic Games were banned. The Romans called them "otium graecum" (Greek idleness). However, the chronology according to the Olympiads was preserved for some time.

Why is the old style called Julian? The first attempt to reform the ancient Egyptian calendar was made long before Julius Caesar by Ptolemy III Euergetes, who in his famous Canopic Decree (238 BC) first introduced the concept of a leap year, thereby equalizing the error of 1 day for 4 years. Thus, one year out of four became equal to 366 days. Unfortunately, this reform did not take root then: firstly, the concept of a leap year was completely alien to the very spirit of the centuries-old Egyptian time reckoning, and secondly, the ancient traditions were still too strong.

Only in the era of Roman domination, the Great Year of Sothis, already known to us, ceased to exist as a real calendar-astronomical measure. Gaius Julius Caesar, with the help of the famous Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, replaced the Roman calendar with the reformed Egyptian calendar of the Canopic Decree. In 46 B.C. Rome, with all its possessions, moved to a new calendar account, which has since received the name Julian. It was this calendar that became the basis of the history of Christian culture.

The Julian calendar was not accurate enough and gave an error of 1 day in 128 years. In 1582, the spring equinox moved back by (1582-325)/128 = 10 days. Because of the importance of this holiday for Christendom, the Catholic Church was convinced of the need for a calendar reform.

Pope Gregory XIII, who came in 1572, reformed the calendar on February 24, 1582. All Christians were commanded to count October 5, 1582 as October 15. The calendar is named Gregorian.

OMAR 1 (581-644, reign 634-644), the second of the "righteous" Caliphs of the Arab Caliphate, introduces Muslim (Islamic) calendar. Prior to this, the Arab tribes reckoned from the "Era of the Elephants" - 570, associated with the invasion of the Ethiopian army on Mecca. The beginning of this calendar (chronology) is from Friday June 16, 622, when Muhammad (Muhammad, Mohammed, who lived in Arabia ≈570 -632) migrated (Arab. - Hijra) from Mecca to Medina. Therefore, in Muslim countries, the calendar is called the Hijri calendar (Arab. الـتـقـويم الـهـجـري‎‎, at-takwimu-l-Hijri).

French Revolution Calendar(or republican) was introduced in France on November 24, 1793 and abolished on January 1, 1806. It was used briefly again during the Paris Commune in 1871. The years are reckoned from the establishment of the first French Republic on September 22, 1792. This day became 1 Vendémière of the 1st year of the Republic (although the calendar was only introduced on November 24, 1793).

Calendar of the ancient Slavs It was called Kolyada's gift - the Gift of God Kolyada.

Kolyada is one of the names of the Sun. After winter solstice On December 22, the god Kolyada is a symbol of the change in the annual cycle of the solstice and the transition of the sun from winter to summer, the victory of good forces over evil ones.

The beginning of the chronology was conducted from the date of the creation of the world in the Star Temple, that is, the signing of a peace treaty in the summer of the Star Temple according to the Krugolet (calendar) of Numbers God after the victory of the Aryans (in the modern sense - Russia) over the empire of the Great Dragon (in modern - China). The symbol of this victory, the horseman slaying the Chinese dragon, is still preserved. In the original version, this is Perun slaying the dragon, and with the advent of Christianization, Perun (the rider) was called George.

Before the adoption of Christianity, time was counted according to the four seasons of the year. The beginning of the year was spring, and the most important season was probably considered summer. Therefore, the second semantic meaning of the word "summer" as a synonym for the year has come down to us from the depths of centuries. The ancient Slavs also used the lunisolar calendar, in which every 19 years they contained seven additional months. There was also a seven-day week, which was called the week.

The end of the 10th century was marked by the transition to Ancient Russia to Christianity. The appearance of the Julian calendar is also associated with this event. The trade and political relations of Russia with Byzantium led to the adoption of Christianity and the Julian chronology according to the Byzantine model, but with some deviation. There the year began on September 1st. In Russia, according to ancient tradition, spring was considered the beginning of the year, and the year began on March 1. The chronology was conducted “from the creation of the world”, adopting the Byzantine version of this mythical date - 5508 BC. e.

Only in 1492 AD. e. (in 7001 from the creation of the world) the beginning of the year in Russia was established on September 1. In view of the expiration of the seventh thousand years “from the creation of the world” and the religious and mystical interpretation of this period, and possibly in connection with the capture by the Turks in 1453 of Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity, superstitious rumors spread around the world about the end of the world coming in 7000 . After this fatal line had been safely passed, and the superstitious people had calmed down, the Moscow Church Council immediately in September 1492 (in 7001) moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to September 1.

From the decree Petra 1 dated December 20, 7208 from the creation of the world: “Now the year 1699 comes from the Nativity of Christ, and from the next Genvar (January) from the 1st day there will be a new year 1700 and a new century. From now on, count summer not from September 1, but from January 1, and not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ. The year 7208 from the "creation of the world" turned out to be the shortest and lasted only four months, while in Russia in 1699 New Year met twice - on August 31 and December 31. In 1702, the first Russian printed calendar was printed in Amsterdam with the beginning of the year on January 1 and the counting of years from the "Christmas".

In the same way, with his characteristic meticulousness, Peter described in detail how to decorate the dwelling and celebrate the holiday. “Because in Russia they consider the New Year in different ways, from now on stop fooling people's heads and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of a good undertaking and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing well-being in business and prosperity in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, ride sleds from the mountains. And for adults, drunkenness and massacre should not be committed - there are enough other days for that. ”

And Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar only in 1918 - almost 350 years after Europe. An amendment of 13 days was introduced: after January 31, 1918, February 14 immediately came. But the Orthodox Church still celebrates its holidays according to the Julian calendar, which is why we celebrate Christmas not on December 25, but on January 7, and from 2100, if the church does not switch to the Gregorian calendar, the difference will increase to 14 days and Orthodox Christmas will automatically " rescheduled to January 8th. The churches that set the calendar according to the solar cycles have gone too far. From all this, we should remember that 310 years ago the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1, and after 90 years Christmas will be celebrated a day later. In the meantime, we live and rejoice that soon there will be the most fun holiday - the New Year, and Santa Claus will bring us a bunch of gifts.

Happy New Year!

Before the discovery of America and the beginning of its conquest by Europeans, the territory of present-day Mexico, Guatemala and some other countries was occupied by the Aztec Empire, which created a very original calendar. The year consisted of 18 months, 20 days each, and the "remaining" 5 days were considered "unlucky". This calendar was carved on a huge stone. It had the shape of a circle, with a diameter of about 4 meters. Each day was marked with its own symbol.

Creation of a modern common calendar
Now there are many different calendar systems created by different nations and priests of various religions. Some of them are still in limited use. Most of the calendars were calculated on the basis of the revealed astronomical regularities, first of all, the movement of the heavenly bodies. These systems could differ significantly from each other. Additional confusion was introduced by the difference between the cycles of the Moon and the Sun, as well as the fact that the duration of the period of revolution of the Earth around the Sun (years) is not a multiple of the period of revolution of the Earth around its own axis (days). As a result, with a sufficiently long use of each specific calendar, errors necessarily accumulated, gradually becoming more and more noticeable. This necessitated calendar reforms.
Such reforms have been carried out repeatedly. For example, the calendar was reformed by the Roman emperors: Caesar, Octavian (August) and others. The most famous reform was carried out by Pope Gregory XIII, when the "Gregorian" calendar was created, which is now accepted as the main one in most countries and the UN.

Gregorian calendar
In our country, this current calendar is also called the “new style”. The fact is that until October 1917, the obsolete "Julian" calendar continued to operate in Russia. The transition to the "new style" took place only after the RCP(b) came to power.

In Catholic countries, the "Gregorian" calendar came into effect on October 15, 1582. Its introduction was due to errors accumulated since the previous calendar reform (I Ecumenical Council in 325 AD). The reform consisted of two main parts:
- The error was eliminated, which reached 10 days from 325. Thus, the date of "Easter Friday" was returned and strictly tied to the day of the spring equinox (21.03). The rules of Easter, established by the Council of Nicaea, began to be fulfilled again.
- To prevent the accumulation of errors in the future, an innovation has been adopted that provides a more accurate binding of the calendar to astronomical patterns. It consists in the fact that for every 4 centuries, three leap years are converted into ordinary ones. To do this, a rule was established according to which a year with a number ending in two zeros is considered a leap year only if the number made up by its first two digits is also a multiple of 4. For example, 2000 was a leap year. But in the year 2100 there will be no February 29th. For years whose serial numbers do not end with two zeros, the leap year rule has been preserved. If the year number is a multiple of 4, the year is considered a leap year.

The introduction of this correction significantly slowed down the accumulation of the error of the discrepancy between the calendar year and the astronomical standard. Now an error of one day will accumulate over 3333 years. The amendment described was the main difference between the "Gregorian" calendar and the Julian style adopted before its introduction.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian styles gradually but steadily increases: in the XVI-XVII centuries. it was 10 days, in the XVIII century. - 11, in the XIX century. - 12, and in the XX-XXI centuries. reached 13 days. From March 15, 2100, the difference between the styles will already be 14 days. Although the Gregorian calendar provides for a February duration of 28 or 29 (in a leap year) days, it happened that in some years in some countries (for example, Sweden, 1712) February lasted 30 days.

Timekeeping in Russia
In Russia, there were also reforms of the chronology. One of the most famous is the calendar reform carried out by Peter I, but there were others.
For a long time, the date of the new "secular" year was March 1st, while the religious year began on September 1st. And the date of "creation of the world" was considered the starting point of the chronology. Later, the “secular” New Year was also moved to September 1st. Approximately 200 years later, Peter I carried out his famous reform. Its main goal was to harmonize the Russian calendar and chronology with those adopted in Europe. The date of the new year was set on January 1, and the starting point of the chronology was the Nativity of Christ. As a result, 01.01.7208 was transformed into 01.01.1700, and the calendar year preceding the reform (1699) was reduced to 4 months: from September to December. It was the shortest calendar year in the history of our country.

The creation of the first printed calendar in Russia was led by the famous alchemist and scientist J. Bruce. This calendar was a scientific work, consisting of a set of complex astronomical drawings and graphs. Even specialists cannot understand the calendar (named after the name of the creator, "Bryusovy").

The transition to the modern Gregorian calendar took place on February 14, 1918, shortly after the RCP(b) came to power. However, from 1930 to 1940 the USSR had its own "revolutionary" calendar. But from the 1940s, the country again began to adhere to the "Gregorian" style.

Failed Global Reform
At the beginning of the twentieth century. there was an initiative for a global calendar reform. The draft of the new calendar developed at that time provided for the division of the year into 13 months of the same duration, 28 days each. The “extra” day, as well as the “additional” day in leap years, was planned to be isolated and declared holidays. Among the advantages of this system, they called the strict binding of calendar numbers to certain days of the week (all months consisted of exactly 4 weeks) and the possibility of accurate comparison of numerous economic and statistical indicators by months. However, the strict binding of the number to the day of the week was perceived by many (especially superstitious) people as a disadvantage, since Friday would always coincide with the 13th of the month. True, this problem could be solved if the beginning of the week was taken not Sunday (as, for example, in the USA), but Monday (usually for us).

This project was considered by the League of Nations, but was rejected by it in 1937. Interestingly, one of his ardent supporters, the founder and head of Kodak, D. Eastman, introduced this system for internal use in his company back in 1928, where it was used up to 1989

So, I informed you about how the calendar arose, what interesting moments were when creating this or that calendar, and, probably, each of you understood that this article is dedicated to the fact that in some 14 days a new one will come 2017 is the year of the fiery rooster and, of course, I can’t help but tell you about the nuances of the new calendar for 2017, in general, the Calendar555 service (https://calendar555.ru/) will do it best, and this is just a small part of what you can find out on this site: Calendar 2017 on this service will tell you about holidays and weekends, about all official holidays, and about the variety of other holidays celebrated both here and abroad. In 2017, there are fourteen official holidays in the Russian Federation. 3 days have been moved to weekdays, which will give us the opportunity to relax at home longer. And a huge number of professional, folk and religious holidays.

First steps
The ancient Roman Julian calendar was introduced in Rome as a result of a reform initiated by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. In Kievan Rus, the Julian calendar appeared during the time of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich almost immediately with the beginning of the introduction of Christianity. So, in the "Tale of Bygone Years" the Julian calendar is used with the Roman names of the months and Byzantine era. The chronology was from the Creation of the world, taking 5508 BC as a basis. - Byzantine version of this date. And the beginning of the new year was decided to be calculated from March 1 - in accordance with the ancient Slavic calendar.

dual calendar
To put it mildly, the people did not experience obvious delight from the innovation, managing to live according to two calendars. A sufficient number of samples of wooden folk calendars have been preserved, on which one can find the simultaneous designation church holidays according to the Julian calendar, and local events based on the pagan folk calendar. The Julian calendar was used primarily in cases where it was necessary to find out the date of church holidays. The old calendar, based on lunar phases, the solar cycle and the change of seasons, reported the dates of vital matters, first of all, the beginning or completion field work. AT modern life preserved, for example, such pagan holidays as Shrovetide, associated with the lunar cycle, or "solar" celebrations - Kolyada and Kupala.

Trying is torture
For almost 500 years, Russia tried to live according to the Julian calendar. Except a large number discrepancies, the problem was also the confusion that arose in the annals: the Russian chroniclers relied on dating according to the Slavic calendar, and the invited Greeks used the dates of the new calendar. No prohibitions of the old calendar, up to the execution of its especially zealous adherents, helped. The reigning Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III tried to "settle" discrepancies. In the Summer of 7000 from the Creation of the World, that is, in 1492, the Moscow Church Council approved the transfer of the beginning of the year from March 1 to September 1 (a decision that is still in effect in the Russian Orthodox Church).

The shortest year
Another attempt to transform the chronology was made by Peter I. By his decree of 1699, he moved the beginning of the year from September 1 to January 1. Thus, the year 1699 lasted only 4 months: September, October, November and December. The year was also shortened by the Soviet authorities, which on January 24, 1918 corrected the error of the Julian calendar of 13 days, introducing the Gregorian calendar, according to which Catholic Europe has lived since 1582. After January 31, 1918, it was not February 1, but immediately February 14.

Everyone is playing!
Fearing to be once again misunderstood, Peter I made an attempt to "disguise" the introduction of a new chronology with grandiose festivities. It was ordered to decorate the “Reigning City” “from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper” and to organize “fiery fun”: launching “rockets, whoever has how much happens” and firing from cannons, muskets and “other small guns”. On New Year's Eve, the king personally gave the signal for the start of the celebrations. In addition to spectacles, Peter offered the people "various meals and vats of wine and beer" - a treat was organized in front of the palace and at the three triumphal gates. According to the tsar's decree, honest people walked for a week, and when they came to their senses after noisy undertakings, "a rather significant murmur arose" in Moscow. Many wondered: "How could the king change the solar current?"

As you wish!
Many of those who were firmly convinced that "God created the light in the month of September" still lived according to the old reckoning. Peter decided not to captivate the people, making a reservation in the decree: “And if anyone wants to write both those years, from the creation of the world and from the birth of Christ, in a row freely.”

old style
Today, according to the Julian calendar, there are only four Orthodox churches: Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian and Serbian. An attempt to replace the calendar was made by Patriarch Tikhon on October 15, 1923. True, the “new style” lived in the Church for only 24 days, since already on November 8, 1923, the patriarch ordered “the universal and mandatory introduction of the new style into church use should be temporarily postponed.” The modern Orthodox church calendar (Paschal) consists of two parts: a fixed Monthly Book, associated with the solar cycle, and a movable Paschal, based on Lunar calendar. The Julian calendar, which differs from the Gregorian in 13 days, forms the basis of the fixed part - it includes non-passing Orthodox holidays and the days of commemoration of saints. Paschalia determines the date of Easter, which changes annually, and with it the transitional holidays that depend on it.