Some New Year trivia for you, just for fun...
On our calendar, (the Gregorian calendar - devised by Pope Gregory XIII when he refined the calculation of Leap Years back in 1582), New Year's Day is the 1st of January.
But before the Gregorian calendar, our ancestors used the Julian calendar which celebrated New Year on 25 March or Lady Day. There are still traces of this in our calendar in the names of the last four months of the year...
- September - from the Latin, Septem for seven
- October - Octo for eight
- November - Novem for nine &
- December - Decem for ten.
Anyway, back to New Year itself... there are other calendars around the world which celebrate the start of the year on different dates!
Here are a few examples... New Year is -
: in late January to late February in the Chinese and Vietnamese calendars
: in mid-April in the Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Thai and Hindu calendars
: around the spring Equinox in March for the Iranian calendar.
: and then there's the "Old New Year" which is celebrated on 13 January in the Russian calendar.
Wherever you are and, whenever or however you celebrate, I hope the your New Year brings you health and happiness!
The thought of actually creating a calendar makes my head spin, Sharon. It's all incredibly fascinating though. :-)
ReplyDeleteWishing everyone a 2014 filled with lots of fabulous books, people to love…and the time for both. ;-)
Michelle, I just wiped out my comment by pressing the "Sign Out" button - argh! And you know that the comment was incredibly profound and can never be repeated! LOL
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let me just say that I agree with 100% about the head-spinning when it comes to devising a calendar! Incredibly complex and the scholars that did it must have been very clever indeed!
Happy New Year Everyone I hope all of your dreams come true
ReplyDeleteHave Fun
Helen
Thanks for popping in with your lovely New Year wishes, Helen!
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