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Bump...
since I began this thread in 2005, I've been tinkering with calendars (don't ask me why - it's my thing), and come up with what I think is a better alternative to the Gregorian Calendar solely in its role as the global calendar.
Thanks for everyone who posted up until now. Your feedback helped me to shape this a particular way. It gets rather involved, however, I'll try to keep it as short & clear as possible without falling down a rabbit hole.
I'll make notes as to a comparison with the Gregorian, as most of the previous commentary seemed to demand a proper comparison (and rightly so) in order to illustrate the need for a new global calendar.
the blog where i developed theAbysmal Calendar has more detail. I used Public & University Libraries and the Internet for source material.
It has 4 parts to consider, but only the first is the really key component.
Part 1) Chromatic Counter
This simply counts days, lunar months & years linearly, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. Currently the Julian Date counts the Days, and the Unix Time Stamp counts seconds, however, the lunar month and year are both key components to most world calendars. Having a single numerical reference by which to translate between any two given calendars proves the most important feature of any global calendar.
note: the Gregorian Calendar doesn't follow the Moon (although, Christians do in order to figure out when to celebrate Easter. If a Christian Calendar doesn't even track the cycles necessary for one of Christianity's biggest celebrations, then it is inherently faulty.)
Part 2) Lunar Calendar
This component would simply attribute 12 or 13 lunar months to each calendar year.
note: the Gregorian Calendar has no lunar cycle, which makes it difficult to translate between it, the Islamic lunar calendar, the Hindu, Chinese & Buddhist solilunar calendars, as well as the lunar calendars observed by the first peoples of the world.
Part 3) Annual Calendar
This component divides the year of 365 days (I'll get to the leap year) into 52 weeks and 1 New Year Day. The Weeks begin on Saturday, end on Friday. The New Year Day isn't a weekday, and so falls after Friday and before Saturday.
Arranging the 52 weeks of the year creates 4 equal quarters of 13 weeks each (91 days), as well as 13 months of 4 weeks each (28 days).
note: the Gregorian months vary from 28 to 31 days, and the quarters are unevenly numbered 90/91, 91, 92, 92 days.
As a bonus, each week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday, however, so does each Month, each Quarter, each Year and any larger measures of time.
note: the Gregorian Calendars cycles of weekdays and months would repeat itself every 7 years, however, the leap year day of Feb 29th disrupts this pattern such that it actually repeats itself once every 400 years.
Setting New Year's Day at the Northern Winter Solstice (equivalent to December 21st) aligns the quarters of the year with the cardinal points.
Winter Solstice, Fri Dec 20th, 21st, Dec 22nd
Vernal Equinox, Fri Mar 22nd, Sat Mar 23rd
Summer Sostice, Fri Jun 21st, Sat Jun 22nd
Autumn Equinox, Fri Sep 20th, Sat Sep 21st
This puts theAbysmal Calendar in line with seasons (for those of us outside the Tropics). Also, the Equinoxes are the 2 days of the year, where no matter where you are on the Earth, day=night.
note: the Gregorian Calendar uses Jan 1st as its new year's day, which doesn't have any particular significance other than as itself.
Also, setting Friday December 21st 2012 as the first New Year's Day also means that the Abysmal Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar will have the same days of the week, so that transition from one to the other will be minimally disruptive, giving everyone an entire year to figure it out.
(although, the calendar is complete, so anyone's welcome to start figuring it out now).
Part 4) the Unnamed
The final portion of the calendar comes from Mesoamerica, and forms part of the calendar system used by the Maya. Although its name is lost to us, some have taken to calling it tzolkin. It has two cycles, one of numbers 1 to 13, the other of glyphs or symbols, of which there are 20. I use roman numerals to represent the glyphs.
This calendar measures 260 days, which is equated with human gestation period. It overlaps with the 365 days of the Annual Year in order to create several different progressions of number and symbol, opening up a number of other options for scheduling.
As this particular component is most unfamiliar to people, I'll suggest that you can ignore it completely, and still have a wonderful device otherwise. The Annual cycle follows the seasons, our fertility follows the Lunar cycle, and our gestation follows the Unnamed cycle.
note: This particular feature is unique to Mesoamerica.
The Leap Year
In order to keep the calendar in line with the seasons, a Leap Year Day is inserted the Day before New Year's Day every 4 Years, with an exception every 128 Years. This most closely approximates the difference between the Tropical Year and 365 Days. The Leap Year is not a weekday, and it does not have a number or glyph from the Unnamed Calendar.
note: the Gregorian Calendar includes Feb 29th as a weekday, creating a 400-year cycle, which prevents it from being an easy mnemonic device. One has to consult an external calendar to divine which day of the week a particular day of the month falls on 27 years from now.
The intention is for theAbysmal Calendar to remain purely numeric (with the exception of Weekdays, which most cultures have sorted out for themselves), so that anyone who wishes to use it and impose their own symbolism & imagery, whether religious, secular or personal.
note: the Gregorian Calendar imposes a Roman-Germanic-Christian symbol system, which had spread with the European conquest of Africa, the Americas & Pacific by Catholic Romantic countries and Protestant Germanic countries.
So, that's the story of theAbysmal Calendar. All the parts of it were derived from somewhere else, so my thanks to those who provided all the pieces of the puzzle.
As I stated Part 1 is the most important, as it will allow for easier translation between different calendar systems.
Happy New Years. |
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