The date will soon be 2000 A.D. That is Anno Domini, the year of Our Lord. It was in the 5th century that it was decided to number the years from the birth of Christ. Non Christians prefer to call the years, not the Christian Era, but the Common Era. For most purposes, the Christian dating is used, though other religions do keep their own calendar for religious purposes.
The year is the period of time occupied by the revolution of the earth round the sun. The length of time takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. The Egyptians had many centuries ago, worked out that the year was about 365¼ days. Over a period of time, calendars had to be adjusted to the correct date. Julius Caesar made one of the early calendars, after finding the then Roman calendar several days out.
Earlier societies often named the year after the ruler. St Luke says, in the reign of Herod King of Judea, when he tells of John the Baptist's birth. And of Christ's birth "In those days a decree was issued by the Emperor Augustus." When trade between Nations increased a common calendar was needed. The Church, at the time, was wide-spread, and hence, naming the year from the birth of Christ seemed appropriate. It is thought, now, that they miscalculated by about six years, and that this is really 2006 A.D. However, it is too late to change now. But we can say that it is at least 2000 years since Christ's birth. There is strong evidence in the spread of the Church that Jesus was truly a real person.
In the course of the year we have the seasons. The winter solstice is when the sun appears to stand still. (Solstice means standing still). From December 21 - 24, the sun is at its lowest point. On December 25th it starts to rise again. It was called Sol Invictus (unconquered sun). It is of course Christmas Day, a very appropriate day for Christ to be born. The Romans celebrate the day with a feast called Saturnalia. All evidence of the Church's history, shows that they kept Christ's birthday on this day, and on no other. They were reluctant at first, to celebrate openly, lest people thought they, too, celebrated the re-birth of the sun. Surely an appropriate day for the birth of the son of God.
The summer solstice is from June 21- 24, the 24th also being midsummer day. On March 21st and September 21st the sun is overhead at the equator, hence they are called Vernal and Autumn equinox, when day and night are of equal length. The Julian calendar lasted a long time, but had to be altered because the number of leap years had been miscalculated.
The reforms were undertaken by Pope Gregory in 1582. In Britain, however, we kept the Julian calendar until 1752. We had to lose 12 days to catch up with the real time. This is shown by our tax year. It used to end on March 25th (Lady Day) but had to move to April 5th to give us a full year!
The other factor that has had an influence on a calendar is the moon. The moon goes round the earth in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes. So, in a year, it goes round just over 12 times. When the moon is between the sun and the earth, we cannot see it at all, because all the light from the sun, the only light the moon gets, is striking the back of the moon. This day is called the new moon. But we often call the new moon, the day when we can first see the light on the edge of the moon. After 7 days this is called the first quarter. (Some call this the half moon) after another 7 days, the moon is on the far side of the earth, when we get the full moon. Moving on, after 7 more days, we have the last quarter. We don't see this so often, the sun shining on the left side of the moon, is just before sunrise. Advertisements sometimes show a last quarter moon, but say "have a good night's sleep". A pretty short night at that time. Because of the moon, we divide the year into twelve parts, roughly a month being the time the moon goes round the earth.
The date of Easter is fixed by the moon. The spring time full moon was the day of the Passover, when Jesus died and rose. We keep Easter on the Sunday following. Sunday became the Christian holy day, because Sunday was the day of Resurrection. In 2000 the full moon is on 18th April, hence April 23rd is Easter Day, almost its latest date, because it is the first full moon after March 21st.
The naming of the months as we have them now, show how the start of the year has varied. The months September, October, November and December, show that the calendar used to start in March. Because September to December are the Latin words for 7, 8, 9, and 10. It is said that Julius Caesar started the year in January. Why does it not start on December 25th the day after the winter solstice? It is thought that a week should elapse before starting a new year!
Things have not changed that much. January was named after Janus, a two-headed god who looked in both directions, backwards and forwards. February is named after the purification ritual called Febria. (Not unlike Lent) March after Mars. April from the word "to open"! May after Maia and June after Juno, roman gods. July and August were once called the 5th and 6th month. But July was named after Julius Caesar.
To equal the number of days in a year, the months started in March with 31 days, April 30, May 31, June 30 and so on. Julius Caesar had 31 and the sixth month used to be 30. But as Augustus had done a lot of work on the calendar he too had to have a month, and of course, not to be outdone, it also had to have 31 days.
Here we got into a muddle. February, once the last month of the year thus had to have only 28 or 29 in leap years. 2000 AD is only a leap year because 2000 can be divided by four ( 1900 was not).
The week is seven days because a quarter of the moon is 7 days. The days of the week vary between cultures, the only common names being Sunday and Monday. The sun takes priority over the moon, because the sun is the source of light and the moon only reflects the light. 1 do wish all calendars and diaries started on Sunday. Sadly commercial interests have relegated Sunday to part of the weekend.
The millennium (Mille = 1000 Annual - Year) has been a fascination, not only for the secular world. In Psalm 90 we say 'For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday'. The New Testament talks of a thousand years of peace. Some sects base much of their beliefs on this. A thorny question. But we can all pray that the new millennium will bring peace and happiness.
Fr Ron Bowles
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page last updated 5 DECEMBER 1999