Calendars and Their History

Calendars and their History Page 1 of 18
This information is reprinted from the Explanatory Supplement

to the Astronomical Almanac, P. Kenneth Seidelmann, editor,
with permission from University Science Books, Sausalito, CA
94965.
Another place on the WWW to look for calendar information is Calendar Zone.
Calendars
by L. E. Doggett
1. Introduction
A calendar is a system of organizing units of time for the purpose of reckoning time over extended
periods. By convention, the day is the smallest calendrical unit of time; the measurement of fractions
of a day is classified as timekeeping. The generality of this definition is due to the diversity of
methods that have been used in creating calendars. Although some calendars replicate astronomical
cycles according to fixed rules, others are based on abstract, perpetually repeating cycles of no
astronomical significance. Some calendars are regulated by astronomical observations, some carefully
and redundantly enumerate every unit, and some contain ambiguities and discontinuities. Some
calendars are codified in written laws; others are transmitted by oral tradition.
The common theme of calendar making is the desire to organize units of time to satisfy the needs and
preoccupations of society. In addition to serving practical purposes, the process of organization
provides a sense, however illusory, of understanding and controlling time itself. Thus calendars serve
as a link between mankind and the cosmos. It is little wonder that calendars have held a sacred status
and have served as a source of social order and cultural identity. Calendars have provided the basis
for planning agricultural, hunting, and migration cycles, for divination and prognostication, and for
maintaining cycles of religious and civil events. Whatever their scientific sophistication, calendars
must ultimately be judged as social contracts, not as scientific treatises.
According to a recent estimate (Fraser, 1987), there are about forty calendars used in the world today.
This chapter is limited to the half-dozen principal calendars in current use. Furthermore, the emphasis
of the chapter is on function and calculation rather than on culture. The fundamental bases of the
calendars are given, along with brief historical summaries. Although algorithms are given for
correlating these systems, close examination reveals that even the standard calendars are subject to
local variation. With the exception of the Julian calendar, this chapter does not deal with extinct
systems. Inclusion of the Julian calendar is justified by its everyday use in historical studies.
Despite a vast literature on calendars, truly authoritative references, particularly in English, are
difficult to find. Aveni (1989) surveys a broad variety of calendrical systems, stressing their cultural
contexts rather than their operational details. Parise (1982) provides useful, though not infallible,
tables for date conversion. Fotheringham (1935) and the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (1910),
in its section on "Calendars," offer basic information on historical calendars. The sections on
"Calendars" and "Chronology" in all editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica provide useful historical
surveys. Ginzel (1906) remains an authoritative, if dated, standard of calendrical scholarship.
References on individual calendars are given in the relevant sections.
1.1 Astronomical Bases of Calendars
http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html 25-12-2009
The principal astronomical cycles are the day (based on the rotation of the Earth on its axis), the year
(based on the revolution of the Earth around the Sun), and the month (based on the revolution of the
Moon around the Earth). The complexity of calendars arises because these cycles of revolution do not
comprise an integral number of days, and because astronomical cycles are neither constant nor
perfectly commensurable with each other,
The tropical year is defined as the mean interval between vernal equinoxes; it corresponds to the
cycle of the seasons. The following expression, based on the orbital elements of Laskar (1986), is
used for calculating the length of the tropical year:
365.2421896698 - 0.00000615359 T - 7.29E-10 T^2 + 2.64E-10 T^3 [days]
where T = (JD - 2451545.0)/36525 and JD is the Julian day number. However, the interval from a
particular vernal equinox to the next may vary from this mean by several minutes.
The synodic month, the mean interval between conjunctions of the Moon and Sun, corresponds to the
cycle of lunar phases. The following expression for the synodic month is based on the lunar theory of
Chapront-Touze' and Chapront (1988):
29.5305888531 + 0.00000021621 T - 3.64E-10 T^2 [days].
Again T = (JD - 2451545.0)/36525 and JD is the Julian day number. Any particular phase cycle may
vary from the mean by up to seven hours.
In the preceding formulas, T is measured in Julian centuries of Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT),
which is independent of the variable rotation of the Earth. Thus, the lengths of the tropical year and
synodic month are here defined in days of 86400 seconds of International Atomic Time (TAI).
From these formulas we see that the cycles change slowly with time. Furthermore, the formulas
should not be considered to be absolute facts; they are the best approximations possible today.
Therefore, a calendar year of an integral number of days cannot be perfectly synchronized to the
tropical year. Approximate synchronization of calendar months with the lunar phases requires a
complex sequence of months of 29 and 30 days. For convenience it is common to speak of a lunar
year of twelve synodic months, or 354.36707 days.
Three distinct types of calendars have resulted from this situation. A solar calendar, of which the
Gregorian calendar in its civil usage is an example, is designed to maintain synchrony with the
tropical year. To do so, days are intercalated (forming leap years) to increase the average length of the
calendar year. A lunar calendar, such as the Islamic calendar, follows the lunar phase cycle without
regard for the tropical year. Thus the months of the Islamic calendar systematically shift with respect
to the months of the Gregorian calendar. The third type of calendar, the lunisolar calendar, has a
sequence of months based on the lunar phase cycle; but every few years a whole month is intercalated
to bring the calendar back in phase with the tropical year. The Hebrew and Chinese calendars are
examples of this type of calendar.
1.2 Nonastronomical Bases of Calendars: the Week
[omitted]
1.3 Calendar Reform and Accuracy
In most societies a calendar reform is an extraordinary event. Adoption of a calendar depends on the
forcefulness with which it is introduced and on the willingness of society to accept it. For example,
the acceptance of the Gregorian calendar as a worldwide standard spanned more than three centuries.
The legal code of the United States does not specify an official national calendar. Use of the
Gregorian calendar in the United States stems from an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom in
1751, which specified use of the Gregorian calendar in England and its colonies. However, its
adoption in the United Kingdom and other countries was fraught with confusion, controversy, and
even violence (Bates, 1952; Gingerich, 1983; Hoskin, 1983). It also had a deeper cultural impact
through the disruption of traditional festivals and calendrical practices (MacNeill, 1982).
Because calendars are created to serve societal needs, the question of a calendar's accuracy is usually
misleading or misguided. A calendar that is based on a fixed set of rules is accurate if the rules are
consistently applied. For calendars that attempt to replicate astronomical cycles, one can ask how
accurately the cycles are replicated. However, astronomical cycles are not absolutely constant, and
they are not known exactly. In the long term, only a purely observational calendar maintains
synchrony with astronomical phenomena. However, an observational calendar exhibits short-term
uncertainty, because the natural phenomena are complex and the observations are subject to error.
1.4 Historical Eras and Chronology
The calendars treated in this chapter, except for the Chinese calendar, have counts of years from
initial epochs. In the case of the Chinese calendar and some calendars not included here, years are
counted in cycles, with no particular cycle specified as the first cycle. Some cultures eschew year
counts altogether but name each year after an event that characterized the year. However, a count of
years from an initial epoch is the most successful way of maintaining a consistent chronology.
Whether this epoch is associated with an historical or legendary event, it must be tied to a sequence of
recorded historical events.
This is illustrated by the adoption of the birth of Christ as the initial epoch of the Christian calendar.
This epoch was established by the sixth-century scholar Dionysius Exiguus, who was compiling a
table of dates of Easter. An existing table covered the nineteen-year period denoted 228-247, where
years were counted from the beginning of the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Dionysius
continued the table for a nineteen-year period, which he designated Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi
532-550. Thus, Dionysius' Anno Domini 532 is equivalent to Anno Diocletian 248. In this way a
correspondence was established between the new Christian Era and an existing system associated
with historical records. What Dionysius did not do is establish an accurate date for the birth of Christ.
Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before A.D. 1, the historical
evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating.
Given an initial epoch, one must consider how to record preceding dates. Bede, the eighth-century
English historian, began the practice of counting years backward from A.D. 1 (see Colgrave and
Mynors, 1969). In this system, the year A.D. 1 is preceded by the year 1 B.C., without an intervening
year 0. Because of the numerical discontinuity, this "historical" system is cumbersome for comparing
ancient and modern dates. Today, astronomers use +1 to designate A.D. 1. Then +1 is naturally
preceded by year 0, which is preceded by year -1. Since the use of negative numbers developed
slowly in Europe, this "astronomical" system of dating was delayed until the eighteenth century, when
it was introduced by the astronomer Jacques Cassini (Cassini, 1740).
Even as use of Dionysius' Christian Era became common in ecclesiastical writings of the Middle
Ages, traditional dating from regnal years continued in civil use. In the sixteenth century, Joseph
Justus Scaliger tried to resolve the patchwork of historical eras by placing everything on a single
system (Scaliger, 1583). Instead of introducing negative year counts, he sought an initial epoch in
advance of any historical record. His numerological approach utilized three calendrical cycles: the 28-
year solar cycle, the nineteen-year cycle of Golden Numbers, and the fifteen-year indiction cycle. The
solar cycle is the period after which weekdays and calendar dates repeat in the Julian calendar. The
cycle of Golden Numbers is the period after which moon phases repeat (approximately) on the same
calendar dates. The indiction cycle was a Roman tax cycle. Scaliger could therefore characterize a
year by the combination of numbers (S,G,I), where S runs from 1 through 28, G from 1 through 19,
and I from 1 through 15. Scaliger noted that a given combination would recur after 7980 (=
28*19*15) years. He called this a Julian Period, because it was based on the Julian calendar year. For
his initial epoch Scaliger chose the year in which S, G, and I were all equal to 1. He knew that the
year 1 B.C. was characterized by the number 9 of the solar cycle, by the Golden Number 1, and by the
number 3 of the indiction cycle, i.e., (9,1,3). He found that the combination (1,1,1) occurred in 4713
B.C. or, as astronomers now say, -4712. This serves as year 1 of Scaliger's Julian Period. It was later
adopted as the initial epoch for the Julian day numbers.
2. The Gregorian Calendar

The Gregorian calendar today serves as an international standard for civil use. In addition, it regulates
the ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. In fact, its original purpose was
ecclesiastical. Although a variety of other calendars are in use today, they are restricted to particular
religions or cultures.
2.1 Rules for Civil Use
Years are counted from the initial epoch defined by Dionysius Exiguus, and are divided into two
classes: common years and leap years. A common year is 365 days in length; a leap year is 366 days,
with an intercalary day, designated February 29, preceding March 1. Leap years are determined
according to the following rule:
Every year that is exactly divisible by 4 is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by
100;
these centurial years are leap years only if they are exactly divisible by 400.
As a result the year 2000 is a leap year, whereas 1900 and 2100 are not leap years. These rules can be
applied to times prior to the Gregorian reform to create a proleptic Gregorian calendar. In this case,
year 0 (1 B.C.) is considered to be exactly divisible by 4, 100, and 400; hence it is a leap year.
The Gregorian calendar is thus based on a cycle of 400 years, which comprises 146097 days. Since
146097 is evenly divisible by 7, the Gregorian civil calendar exactly repeats after 400 years. Dividing
146097 by 400 yields an average length of 365.2425 days per calendar year, which is a close
approximation to the length of the tropical year. Comparison with Equation 1.1-1 reveals that the
Gregorian calendar accumulates an error of one day in about 2500 years. Although various
adjustments to the leap-year system have been proposed, none has been instituted.
Within each year, dates are specified according to the count of days from the beginning of the month.
The order of months and number of days per month were adopted from the Julian calendar.
Table 2.1.1
Months of the Gregorian
Calendar
1. January 31 7. July 31
2. February 28* 8. August 31
3. March 31 9. September 30
4. April 30 10. October 31
5. May 31 11. November 30
6. June 30 12. December 31
* In a leap year, February has 29 days.
2.2 Ecclesiastical Rules
The ecclesiastical calendars of Christian churches are based on cycles of movable and immovable
feasts. Christmas is the principal immovable feast, with its date set at December 25. Easter is the
principal movable feast, and dates of most other movable feasts are determined with respect to Easter.
However, the movable feasts of the Advent and Epiphany seasons are Sundays reckoned from
Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany, respectively.
In the Gregorian calendar, the date of Easter is defined to occur on the Sunday following the
ecclesiastical Full Moon that falls on or next after March 21. This should not be confused with the
popular notion that Easter is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon following the vernal equinox. In
the first place, the vernal equinox does not necessarily occur on March 21. In addition, the
ecclesiastical Full Moon is not the astronomical Full Moon -- it is based on tables that do not take into
account the full complexity of lunar motion. As a result, the date of an ecclesiastical Full Moon may
differ from that of the true Full Moon. However, the Gregorian system of leap years and lunar tables
does prevent progressive departure of the tabulated data from the astronomical phenomena.
The ecclesiastical Full Moon is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1
corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. The tables are based on the Metonic cycle, in which 235
mean synodic months occur in 6939.688 days. Since nineteen Gregorian years is 6939.6075 days, the
dates of Moon phases in a given year will recur on nearly the same dates nineteen years laters. To
prevent the 0.08 day difference between the cycles from accumulating, the tables incorporate
adjustments to synchronize the system over longer periods of time. Additional complications arise
because the tabular lunations are of 29 or 30 integral days. The entire system comprises a period of
5700000 years of 2081882250 days, which is equated to 70499183 lunations. After this period, the
dates of Easter repeat themselves.
The following algorithm for computing the date of Easter is based on the algorithm of Oudin (1940).
It is valid for any Gregorian year, Y. All variables are integers and the remainders of all divisions are
dropped. The final date is given by M, the month, and D, the day of the month.
C = Y/100,
N = Y - 19*(Y/19),
K = (C - 17)/25,
I = C - C/4 - (C - K)/3 + 19*N + 15,
I = I - 30*(I/30),
I = I - (I/28)*(1 - (I/28)*(29/(I + 1))*((21 - N)/11)),
J = Y + Y/4 + I + 2 - C + C/4,
J = J - 7*(J/7),
L = I - J,
M = 3 + (L + 40)/44,
D = L + 28 - 31*(M/4).
2.3 History of the Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar resulted from a perceived need to reform the method of calculating dates of
Easter. Under the Julian calendar the dating of Easter had become standardized, using March 21 as
the date of the equinox and the Metonic cycle as the basis for calculating lunar phases. By the
thirteenth century it was realized that the true equinox had regressed from March 21 (its supposed
date at the time of the Council of Nicea, +325) to a date earlier in the month. As a result, Easter was
drifting away from its springtime position and was losing its relation with the Jewish Passover. Over
the next four centuries, scholars debated the "correct" time for celebrating Easter and the means of
regulating this time calendrically. The Church made intermittent attempts to solve the Easter question,
without reaching a consensus.
By the sixteenth century the equinox had shifted by ten days, and astronomical New Moons were
occurring four days before ecclesiastical New Moons. At the behest of the Council of Trent, Pope
Pius V introduced a new Breviary in 1568 and Missal in 1570, both of which included adjustments to
the lunar tables and the leap-year system. Pope Gregory XIII, who succeeded Pope Pius in 1572, soon
convened a commission to consider reform of the calendar, since he considered his predecessor's
measures inadequate.
The recommendations of Pope Gregory's calendar commission were instituted by the papal bull "Inter
Gravissimus," signed on 1582 February 24. Ten days were deleted from the calendar, so that 1582
October 4 was followed by 1582 October 15, thereby causing the vernal equinox of 1583 and
subsequent years to occur about March 21. And a new table of New Moons and Full Moons was
introduced for determining the date of Easter.
Subject to the logistical problems of communication and governance in the sixteenth century, the new
calendar was promulgated through the Roman-Catholic world. Protestant states initially rejected the
calendar, but gradually accepted it over the coming centuries. The Eastern Orthodox churches rejected
the new calendar and continued to use the Julian calendar with traditional lunar tables for calculating
Easter. Because the purpose of the Gregorian calendar was to regulate the cycle of Christian holidays,
its acceptance in the non-Christian world was initially not at issue. But as international
communications developed, the civil rules of the Gregorian calendar were gradually adopted around
the world.
Anyone seriously interested in the Gregorian calendar should study the collection of papers resulting
from a conference sponsored by the Vatican to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of the
Gregorian Reform (Coyne et al., 1983).
3. The Hebrew Calendar

As it exists today, the Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar that is based on calculation rather than
observation. This calendar is the official calendar of Israel and is the liturgical calendar of the Jewish
faith.
In principle the beginning of each month is determined by a tabular New Moon (molad) that is based
on an adopted mean value of the lunation cycle. To ensure that religious festivals occur in appropriate
seasons, months are intercalated according to the Metonic cycle, in which 235 lunations occur in
nineteen years.
By tradition, days of the week are designated by number, with only the seventh day, Sabbath, having
a specific name. Days are reckoned from sunset to sunset, so that day 1 begins at sunset on Saturday
and ends at sunset on Sunday. The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
3.1 Rules
Years are counted from the Era of Creation, or Era Mundi, which corresponds to -3760 October 7 on
the Julian proleptic calendar. Each year consists of twelve or thirteen months, with months consisting
of 29 or 30 days. An intercalary month is introduced in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 in a nineteen-
year cycle of 235 lunations. The initial year of the calendar, A.M. (Anno Mundi) 1, is year 1 of the
nineteen-year cycle.
The calendar for a given year is established by determining the day of the week of Tishri 1 (first day
of Rosh Hashanah or New Year's Day) and the number of days in the year. Years are classified
according to the number of days in the year (see Table 3.1.1).
Table 3.1.1
Classification of Years in the Hebrew
Calendar
Deficient Regular Complete
Ordinary year 353 354 355
Leap year 383 384 385
Table 3.1.2
Months of the Hebrew Calendar
1. Tishri 30 7. Nisan 30
2. Heshvan 29* 8. Iyar 29
3. Kislev 30** 9. Sivan 30
4. Tevet 29 10. Tammuz 29
5. Shevat 30 11. Av 30
6. Adar 29*** 12. Elul 29
* In a complete year, Heshvan has 30 days.
** In a deficient year, Kislev has 29 days.
*** In a leap year Adar I has 30 days; it is followed by Adar II with 29 days.
Table 3.1.3
Terminology of the Hebrew Calendar
Deficient (haser) month: a month comprising 29 days.
Full (male) month: a month comprising 30 days.
Ordinary year: a year comprising 12 months, with a total of 353, 354, or 355 days.
Leap year: a year comprising 13 months, with a total of 383, 384, or 385 days.
Complete year (shelemah): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 30 days.
Deficient year (haser): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 29 days.
Regular year (kesidrah): a year in which Heshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 days.
Halakim(singular, helek): "parts" of an hour; there are 1080 halakim per hour.
Molad(plural, moladot): "birth" of the Moon, taken to mean the time of conjunction for modern
calendric purposes.
Dehiyyah(plural, dehiyyot): "postponement"; a rule delaying 1 Tishri until after the molad.
The months of Heshvan and Kislev vary in length to satisfy requirements for the length of the year
(see Table 3.1.1). In leap years, the 29-day month Adar is designated Adar II, and is preceded by the
30-day intercalary month Adar I.
For calendrical calculations, the day begins at 6 P.M., which is designated 0 hours. Hours are divided
into 1080 halakim; thus one helek is 3 1/3 seconds. (Terminology is explained in Table 3.1.3.)
Calendrical calculations are referred to the meridian of Jerusalem -- 2 hours 21 minutes east of
Greenwich.
Rules for constructing the Hebrew calendar are given in the sections that follow. Cohen (1981),
Resnikoff (1943), and Spier (1952) provide reliable guides to the rules of calculation.
3.1.1 Determining Tishri 1
The calendar year begins with the first day of Rosh Hashanah (Tishri 1). This is determined by the
day of the Tishri molad and the four rules of postponements (dehiyyot). The dehiyyot can postpone
Tishri 1 until one or two days following the molad. Tabular new moons (maladot) are reckoned from
the Tishri molad of the year A.M. 1, which occurred on day 2 at 5 hours, 204 halakim (i.e., 11:11:20
P.M. on Sunday, -3760 October 6, Julian proleptic calendar). The adopted value of the mean lunation
is 29 days, 12 hours, 793 halakim (29.530594 days). To avoid rounding and truncation errors,
calculation should be done in halakim rather than decimals of a day, since the adopted lunation
constant is expressed exactly in halakim.
Table 3.1.1.1
Lunation Constants for Determining
Tishri 1
Lunations Weeks-Days-Hours-Halakim
1 = 4-1-12-0793
12 = 50-4-08-0876
13 = 54-5-21-0589
235 = 991-2-16-0595
Lunation constants required in calculations are shown in Table 3.1.1.1. By subtracting off the weeks,
these constants give the shift in weekdays that occurs after each cycle.
The dehiyyot are as follows:

(a) If the Tishri molad falls on day 1, 4, or 6, then Tishri 1 is postponed one day.
(b) If the Tishri molad occurs at or after 18 hours (i.e., noon), then Tishri 1 is postponed one day. If
this causes Tishri 1 to fall on day 1, 4, or 6, then Tishri 1 is postponed an additional day to satisfy
dehiyyah (a).
(c) If the Tishri molad of an ordinary year (i.e., of twelve months) falls on day 3 at or after 9 hours,
204 halakim, then Tishri 1 is postponed two days to day 5, thereby satisfying dehiyyah (a).
(d) If the first molad following a leap year falls on day 2 at or after 15 hours, 589 halakim, then Tishri
1 is postponed one day to day 3.
3.1.2 Reasons for the Dehiyyot
Dehiyyah (a) prevents Hoshana Rabba (Tishri 21) from occurring on the Sabbath and prevents Yom
Kippur (Tishri 10) from occurring on the day before or after the Sabbath.
Dehiyyah (b) is an artifact of the ancient practice of beginning each month with the sighting of the
lunar crescent. It is assumed that if the molad (i.e., the mean conjunction) occurs after noon, the lunar
crescent cannot be sighted until after 6 P.M., which will then be on the following day.
Dehiyyah (c) prevents an ordinary year from exceeding 355 days. If the Tishri molad of an ordinary
year occurs on Tuesday at or after 3:11:20 A.M., the next Tishri molad will occur at or after noon on
Saturday. According to dehiyyah (b), Tishri 1 of the next year must be postponed to Sunday, which by
dehiyyah (a) occasions a further postponement to Monday. This results in an ordinary year of 356
days. Postponing Tishri 1 from Tuesday to Thursday produces a year of 354 days.
Dehiyyah (d) prevents a leap year from falling short of 383 days. If the Tishri molad following a leap
year is on Monday, at or after 9:32:43 1/3 A.M., the previous Tishri molad (thirteen months earlier)
occurred on Tuesday at or after noon. Therefore, by dehiyyot (b) and (a), Tishri 1 beginning the leap
year was postponed to Thursday. To prevent a leap year of 382 days, dehiyyah (d) postpones by one
day the beginning of the ordinary year.
A thorough discussion of both the functional and religious aspects of the dehiyyot is provided by
Cohen (1981).
3.1.3 Determining the Length of the Year
An ordinary year consists of 50 weeks plus 3, 4, or 5 days. The number of excess days identifies the
year as being deficient, regular, or complete, respectively. A leap year consists of 54 weeks plus 5, 6,
or 7 days, which again are designated deficient, regular, or complete, respectively. The length of a
year can therefore be determined by comparing the weekday of Tishri 1 with that of the next Tishri 1.
First consider an ordinary year. The weekday shift after twelve lunations is 04-08-876. For example if
a Tishri molad of an ordinary year occurs on day 2 at 0 hours 0 halakim (6 P.M. on Monday), the next
Tishri molad will occur on day 6 at 8 hours 876 halakim. The first Tishri molad does not require
application of the dehiyyot, so Tishri 1 occurs on day 2. Because of dehiyyah (a), the following Tishri
1 is delayed by one day to day 7, five weekdays after the previous Tishri 1. Since this characterizes a
complete year, the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 30 days.
The weekday shift after thirteen lunations is 05-21-589. If the Tishri molad of a leap year occurred on
day 4 at 20 hours 500 halakim, the next Tishri molad will occur on day 3 at 18 hours 9 halakim.
Becuase of dehiyyot (b), Tishri 1 of the leap year is postponed two days to day 6. Because of dehiyyot
(c), Tishri 1 of the following year is postponed two days to day 5. This six-day difference
characterizes a regular year, so that Heshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 days.
3.2 History of the Hebrew Calendar
The codified Hebrew calendar as we know it today is generally considered to date from A.M. 4119
(+359), though the exact date is uncertain. At that time the patriarch Hillel II, breaking with tradition,
disseminated rules for calculating the calendar. Prior to that time the calendar was regarded as a secret
science of the religious authorities. The exact details of Hillel's calendar have not come down to us,
but it is generally considered to include rules for intercalation over nineteen-year cycles. Up to the
tenth century A.D., however, there was disagreement about the proper years for intercalation and the
initial epoch for reckoning years.
Information on calendrical practices prior to Hillel is fragmentary and often contradictory. The
earliest evidence indicates a calendar based on observations of Moon phases. Since the Bible
mentions seasonal festivals, there must have been intercalation. There was likely an evolution of
conflicting calendrical practices.
The Babylonian exile, in the first half of the sixth century B.C., greatly influenced the Hebrew
calendar. This is visible today in the names of the months. The Babylonian influence may also have
led to the practice of intercalating leap months.
During the period of the Sanhedrin, a committee of the Sanhedrin met to evaluate reports of sightings
of the lunar crescent. If sightings were not possible, the new month was begun 30 days after the
beginning of the previous month. Decisions on intercalation were influenced, if not determined
entirely, by the state of vegetation and animal life. Although eight-year, nineteen-year, and longer-
period intercalation cycles may have been instituted at various times prior to Hillel II, there is little
evidence that they were employed consistently over long time spans.
4. The Islamic Calendar

The Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar in which months correspond to the lunar phase cycle.
As a result, the cycle of twelve lunar months regresses through the seasons over a period of about 33
years. For religious purposes, Muslims begin the months with the first visibility of the lunar crescent
after conjunction. For civil purposes a tabulated calendar that approximates the lunar phase cycle is
often used.
The seven-day week is observed with each day beginning at sunset. Weekdays are specified by
number, with day 1 beginning at sunset on Saturday and ending at sunset on Sunday. Day 5, which is
called Jum'a, is the day for congregational prayers. Unlike the Sabbath days of the Christians and
Jews, however, Jum'a is not a day of rest. Jum'a begins at sunset on Thursday and ends at sunset on
Friday. [Erratum: It appears that Doggett should have stated that Jum'a is Day 6, not Day 5.]
4.1 Rules
Years of twelve lunar months are reckoned from the Era of the Hijra, commemorating the migration
of the Prophet and his followers from Mecca to Medina. This epoch, 1 A.H. (Anno Higerae)
Muharram 1, is generally taken by astronomers (Neugebauer, 1975) to be Thursday, +622 July 15
(Julian calendar). This is called the astronomical Hijra epoch. Chronological tables (e.g., Mayr and
Spuler, 1961; Freeman-Grenville, 1963) generally use Friday, July 16, which is designated the civil
epoch. In both cases the Islamic day begins at sunset of the previous day.
For religious purposes, each month begins in principle with the first sighting of the lunar crescent
after the New Moon. This is particularly important for establishing the beginning and end of
Ramadan. Because of uncertainties due to weather, however, a new month may be declared thirty
days after the beginning of the preceding month. Although various predictive procedures have been
used for determining first visibility, they have always had an equivocal status. In practice, there is
disagreement among countries, religious leaders, and scientists about whether to rely on observations,
which are subject to error, or to use calculations, which may be based on poor models.
Chronologists employ a thirty-year cyclic calendar in studying Islamic history. In this tabular
calendar, there are eleven leap years in the thirty-year cycle. Odd-numbered months have thirty days
and even-numbered months have twenty-nine days, with a thirtieth day added to the twelfth month,
Dhu al-Hijjah (see Table 4.1.1). Years 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, and 29 of the cycle are
designated leap years. This type of calendar is also used as a civil calendar in some Muslim countries,
though other years are sometimes used as leap years. The mean length of the month of the thirty-year
tabular calendar is about 2.9 seconds less than the synodic period of the Moon.
Table 4.1.1
Months of Tabular Islamic Calendar
1. Muharram** 30 7. Rajab** 30
2. Safar 29 8. Sha'ban 29
3. Rabi'a I 30 9. Ramadan*** 30
4. Rabi'a II 29 10. Shawwal 29
5. Jumada I 30 11. Dhu al-Q'adah** 30
6. Jumada II 29 12. Dhu al-Hijjah** 29*
* In a leap year, Dhu al-Hijjah has 30 days.
** Holy months.
*** Month of fasting.
4.1.1 Visibility of the Crescent Moon
[omitted]
4.2 History of the Islamic Calendar
The form of the Islamic calendar, as a lunar calendar without intercalation, was laid down by the
Prophet in the Qur'an (Sura IX, verse 36-37) and in his sermon at the Farewell Pilgrimage. This was a
departure from the lunisolar calendar commonly used in the Arab world, in which months were based
on first sightings of the lunar crescent, but an intercalary month was added as deemed necessary.
Caliph 'Umar I is credited with establishing the Hijra Era in A.H. 17. It is not known how the initial
date was determined. However, calculations show that the astronomical New Moon (i.e., conjunction)
occurred on +622 July 14 at 0444 UT (assuming delta-T = 1.0 hour), so that sighting of the crescent
most likely occurred on the evening of July 16.
5. The Indian Calendar

As a result of a calendar reform in A.D. 1957, the National Calendar of India is a formalized lunisolar
calendar in which leap years coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar (Calendar Reform
Committee, 1957). However, the initial epoch is the Saka Era, a traditional epoch of Indian
chronology. Months are named after the traditional Indian months and are offset from the beginning
of Gregorian months (see Table 5.1.1).
In addition to establishing a civil calendar, the Calendar Reform Committee set guidelines for
religious calendars, which require calculations of the motions of the Sun and Moon. Tabulations of
the religious holidays are prepared by the India Meteorological Department and published annually in
The Indian Astronomical Ephemeris.
Despite the attempt to establish a unified calendar for all of India, many local variations exist. The
Gregorian calendar continues in use for administrative purposes, and holidays are still determined
according to regional, religious, and ethnic traditions (Chatterjee, 1987).
5.1 Rules for Civil Use
Years are counted from the Saka Era; 1 Saka is considered to begin with the vernal equinox of A.D.
79. The reformed Indian calendar began with Saka Era 1879, Caitra 1, which corresponds to A.D.
1957 March 22. Normal years have 365 days; leap years have 366. In a leap year, an intercalary day is
added to the end of Caitra. To determine leap years, first add 78 to the Saka year. If this sum is evenly
divisible by 4, the year is a leap year, unless the sum is a multiple of 100. In the latter case, the year is
not a leap year unless the sum is also a multiple of 400. Table 5.1.1 gives the sequence of months and
their correlation with the months of the Gregorian calendar.
Table 5.1.1
Months of the Indian Civil Calendar
Days Correlation of Indian/Gregorian
1. Caitra 30* Caitra 1 March 22*
2. Vaisakha 31 Vaisakha 1 April 21
3. Jyaistha 31 Jyaistha 1 May 22
4. Asadha 31 Asadha 1 June 22
5. Sravana 31 Sravana 1 July 23
6. Bhadra 31 Bhadra 1 August 23
7. Asvina 30 Asvina 1 September 23
8. Kartika 30 Kartika 1 October 23
9. Agrahayana 30 Agrahayana 1 November 22
10. Pausa 30 Pausa 1 December 22
11. Magha 30 Magha 1 January 21
12. Phalguna 30 Phalguna 1 February 20

* In a leap year, Caitra has 31 days and Caitra 1 coincides with March 21.
5.2 Principles of the Religious Calendar
Religious holidays are determined by a lunisolar calendar that is based on calculations of the actual
postions of the Sun and Moon. Most holidays occur on specified lunar dates (tithis), as is explained
later; a few occur on specified solar dates. The calendrical methods presented here are those
recommended by the Calendar Reform Committee (1957). They serve as the basis for the calendar
published in The Indian Astronomical Ephemeris. However, many local calendar makers continue to
use traditional astronomical concepts and formulas, some of which date back 1500 years.
The Calendar Reform Committee attempted to reconcile traditional calendrical practices with modern
astronomical concepts. According to their proposals, precession is accounted for and calculations of
solar and lunar position are based on accurate modern methods. All astronomical calculations are
performed with respect to a Central Station at longitude 82o30' East, latitude 23o11' North. For
religious purposes solar days are reckoned from sunrise to sunrise.
A solar month is defined as the interval required for the Sun's apparent longitude to increase by 30o,
corresponding to the passage of the Sun through a zodiacal sign (rasi). The initial month of the year,
Vaisakha, begins when the true longitude of the Sun is 23o 15' (see Table 5.2.1). Because the Earth's
orbit is elliptical, the lengths of the months vary from 29.2 to 31.2 days. The short months all occur in
the second half of the year around the time of the Earth's perihelion passage.
Table 5.2.1
Solar Months of the Indian Religious Calendar
Sun's Longitude Approx. Duration Approx. Greg. Date
deg min d
1. Vaisakha 23 15 30.9 Apr. 13
2. Jyestha 53 15 31.3 May 14
3. Asadha 83 15 31.5 June 14
4. Sravana 113 15 31.4 July 16
5. Bhadrapada 143 15 31.0 Aug. 16
6. Asvina 173 15 30.5 Sept. 16
7. Kartika 203 15 30.0 Oct. 17
8. Margasirsa 233 15 29.6 Nov. 16
9. Pausa 263 15 29.4 Dec. 15
10. Magha 293 15 29.5 Jan. 14
11. Phalgura 323 15 29.9 Feb. 12
12. Caitra 353 15 30.3 Mar. 14
Lunar months are measured from one New Moon to the next (although some groups reckon from the
Full Moon). Each lunar month is given the name of the solar month in which the lunar month begins.
Because most lunations are shorter than a solar month, there is occasionally a solar month in which
two New Moons occur. In this case, both lunar months bear the same name, but the first month is
described with the prefix adhika, or intercalary. Such a year has thirteen lunar months. Adhika months
occur every two or three years following patterns described by the Metonic cycle or more complex
lunar phase cycles.
More rarely, a year will occur in which a short solar month will pass without having a New Moon. In
that case, the name of the solar month does not occur in the calendar for that year. Such a decayed
(ksaya) month can occur only in the months near the Earth's perihelion passage. In compensation, a
month in the first half of the year will have had two New Moons, so the year will still have twelve
lunar months. Ksaya months are separated by as few as nineteen years and as many as 141 years.
Lunations are divided into 30 tithis, or lunar days. Each tithi is defined by the time required for the
longitude of the Moon to increase by 12o over the longitude of the Sun. Thus the length of a tithi may
vary from about 20 hours to nearly 27 hours. During the waxing phases, tithis are counted from 1 to
15 with the designation Sukla. Tithis for the waning phases are designated Krsna and are again
counted from 1 to 15. Each day is assigned the number of the tithi in effect at sunrise. Occasionally a
short tithi will begin after sunrise and be completed before the next sunrise. Similarly a long tithi may
span two sunrises. In the former case, a number is omitted from the day count. In the latter, a day
number is carried over to a second day.
5.3 History of the Indian Calendar
The history of calendars in India is a remarkably complex subject owing to the continuity of Indian
civilization and to the diversity of cultural influences. In the mid-1950s, when the Calendar Reform
Committee made its survey, there were about 30 calendars in use for setting religious festivals for
Hindus, Buddhists, and Jainists. Some of these were also used for civil dating. These calendars were
based on common principles, though they had local characteristics determined by long-established
customs and the astronomical practices of local calendar makers. In addition, Muslims in India used
the Islamic calendar, and the Indian government used the Gregorian calendar for administrative
purposes.
Early allusions to a lunisolar calendar with intercalated months are found in the hymns from the Rig
Veda, dating from the second millennium B.C. Literature from 1300 B.C. to A.D. 300, provides
information of a more specific nature. A five-year lunisolar calendar coordinated solar years with
synodic and sidereal lunar months.
Indian astronomy underwent a general reform in the first few centuries A.D., as advances in
Babylonian and Greek astronomy became known. New astronomical constants and models for the
motion of the Moon and Sun were adapted to traditional calendric practices. This was conveyed in
astronomical treatises of this period known as Siddhantas, many of which have not survived. The
Surya Siddhanta, which originated in the fourth century but was updated over the following centuries,
influenced Indian calendrics up to and even after the calendar reform of A.D. 1957.
Pingree (1978) provides a survey of the development of mathematical astronomy in India. Although
he does not deal explicitly with calendrics, this material is necessary for a full understanding of the
history of India's calendars.
6. The Chinese Calendar

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar based on calculations of the positions of the Sun and
Moon. Months of 29 or 30 days begin on days of astronomical New Moons, with an intercalary month
being added every two or three years. Since the calendar is based on the true positions of the Sun and
Moon, the accuracy of the calendar depends on the accuracy of the astronomical theories and
calculations.
Although the Gregorian calendar is used in the Peoples' Republic of China for administrative
purposes, the traditional Chinese calendar is used for setting traditional festivals and for timing
agricultural activities in the countryside. The Chinese calendar is also used by Chinese communities
around the world.
Table 6.1.1
Chinese Sexagenary Cycle of
Days and Years
Celestial Stems Earthly Branches
1. jia 1. zi (rat)
2. yi 2. chou (ox)
3. bing 3. yin (tiger)
4. ding 4. mao (hare)
5. wu 5. chen (dragon)
6. ji 6. si (snake)
7. geng 7. wu (horse)
8. xin 8. wei (sheep)
9. ren 9. shen (monkey)
10. gui 10. you (fowl)
11. xu (dog)
12. hai (pig)
Year Names
1. jia-zi 16. ji-mao 31. jia-wu 46. ji-you
2. yi-chou 17. geng-chen 32. yi-wei 47. geng-xu
3. bing-yin 18. xin-si 33. bing-shen 48. xin-hai
4. ding-mao 19. ren-wu 34. ding-you 49. ren-zi
5. wu-chen 20. gui-wei 35. wu-xu 50. gui-chou
6. ji-si 21. jia-shen 36. ji-hai 51. jia-yin
7. geng-wu 22. yi-you 37. geng-zi 52. yi-mao
8. xin-wei 23. bing-xu 38. xin-chou 53. bing-chen
9. ren-shen 24. ding-hai 39. ren-yin 54. ding-si
10. gui-you 25. wu-zi 40. gui-mao 55. wu-wu
11. jia-xu 26. ji-chou 41. jia-chen 56. ji-wei
12. yi-hai 27. geng-yin 42. yi-si 57. geng-shen
13. bing-zi 28. xin-mao 43. bing-wu 58. xin-you
14. ding-chou 29. ren-chen 44. ding-wei 59. ren-xu
15. wu-yin 30. gui-si 45. wu-shen 60. gui-hai
6.1 Rules
There is no specific initial epoch for counting years. In historical records, dates were specified by
counts of days and years in sexagenary cycles and by counts of years from a succession of eras
established by reigning monarchs.
The sixty-year cycle consists of a set of year names that are created by pairing a name from a list of
ten Celestial Stems with a name from a list of twelve Terrestrial Branches, following the order
specified in Table 6.1.1. The Celestial Stems are specified by Chinese characters that have no English
translation; the Terrestrial Branches are named after twelve animals. After six repetitions of the set of
stems and five repetitions of the branches, a complete cycle of pairs is completed and a new cycle
begins. The initial year (jia-zi) of the current cycle began on 1984 February 2.
Days are measured from midnight to midnight. The first day of a calendar month is the day on which
the astronomical New Moon (i.e., conjunction) is calculated to occur. Since the average interval
between successive New Moons is approximately 29.53 days, months are 29 or 30 days long. Months
are specified by number from 1 to 12. When an intercalary month is added, it bears the number of the
previous month, but is designated as intercalary. An ordinary year of twelve months is 353, 354, or
355 days in length; a leap year of thirteen months is 383, 384, or 385 days long.
The conditions for adding an intercalary month are determined by the occurrence of the New Moon
with respect to divisions of the tropical year. The tropical year is divided into 24 solar terms, in 15o
segments of solar longitude. These divisions are paired into twelve Sectional Terms (Jieqi) and twelve
Principal Terms (Zhongqi), as shown in Table 6.1.2. These terms are numbered and assigned names
that are seasonal or meteorological in nature. For convenience here, the Sectional and Principal Terms
are denoted by S and P, respectively, followed by the number. Because of the ellipticity of the Earth's
orbit, the interval between solar terms varies with the seasons.
Reference works give a variety of rules for establishing New Year's Day and for intercalation in the
lunisolar calendar. Since the calendar was originally based on the assumption that the Sun's motion
was uniform through the seasons, the published rules are frequently inadequate to handle special
cases.
The following rules (Liu and Stephenson, in press) are currently used as the basis for calendars
prepared by the Purple Mountain Observatory (1984):
(1) The first day of the month is the day on which the New Moon occurs.
(2) An ordinary year has twelve lunar months; an intercalary year has thirteen lunar months.
(3) The Winter Solstice (term P-11) always falls in month 11.
(4) In an intercalary year, a month in which there is no Principal Term is the intercalary month. It is
assigned the number of the preceding month, with the further designation of intercalary. If two
months of an intercalary year contain no Principal Term, only the first such month after the Winter
Solstice is considered intercalary.
(5) Calculations are based on the meridian 120o East.
The number of the month usually corresponds to the number of the Principal Term occurring during
the month. In rare instances, however, there are months that have two Principal Terms, with the result
that a nonintercalary month will have no Principal Term. As a result the numbers of the months will
temporarily fail to correspond to the numbers of the Principal Terms. These cases can be resolved by
strictly applying rules 2 and 3.
Table 6.1.2
Chinese Solar Terms
Term* Name Sun's Longitude Approx. Greg. Date Duration
S-1 Lichun Beginning of Spring 315 Feb. 4
P-1 Yushui Rain Water 330 Feb. 19 29.8
S-2 Jingzhe Waking of Insects 345 Mar. 6
P-2 Chunfen Spring Equinox 0 Mar. 21 30.2
S-3 Qingming Pure Brightness 15 Apr. 5
P-3 Guyu Grain Rain 30 Apr. 20 30.7
S-4 Lixia Beginning of Summer 45 May 6
P-4 Xiaoman Grain Full 60 May 21 31.2
S-5 Mangzhong Grain in Ear 75 June 6
P-5 Xiazhi Summer Solstice 90 June 22 31.4
S-6 Xiaoshu Slight Heat 105 July 7
P-6 Dashu Great Heat 120 July 23 31.4
S-7 Liqiu Beginning of Autumn 135 Aug. 8
P-7 Chushu Limit of Heat 150 Aug. 23 31.1

S-8 Bailu White Dew 165 Sept. 8
P-8 Qiufen Autumnal Equinox 180 Sept. 23 30.7
S-9 Hanlu Cold Dew 195 Oct. 8
P-9 Shuangjiang Descent of Frost 210 Oct. 24 30.1
S-10 Lidong Beginning of Winter 225 Nov. 8
P-10 Xiaoxue Slight Snow 240 Nov. 22 29.7
S-11 Daxue Great Snow 255 Dec. 7
P-11 Dongzhi Winter Solstice 270 Dec. 22 29.5
S-12 Xiaohan Slight Cold 285 Jan. 6
P-12 Dahan Great Cold 300 Jan. 20 29.5
* Terms are classified as Sectional (Jieqi) or Principal (Zhongqi), followed by the number of the term.
In general, the first step in calculating the Chinese calendar is to check for the existence of an
intercalary year. This can be done by determining the dates of Winter Solstice and month 11 before
and after the period of interest, and then by counting the intervening New Moons.
Published calendrical tables are often in disagreement about the Chinese calendar. Some of the tables
are based on mean, or at least simplified, motions of the Sun and Moon. Some are calculated for other
meridians than 120o East. Some incorporate a rule that the eleventh, twelfth, and first months are
never followed by an intercalary month. This is sometimes not stated as a rule, but as a consequence
of the rapid change in the Sun's longitude when the Earth is near perihelion. However, this statement
is incorrect when the motions of the Sun and Moon are accurately calculated.
6.2 History of the Chinese Calendar
In China the calendar was a sacred document, spopnsored and promulgated by the reigning monarch.
For more than two millennia, a Bureau of Astronomy made astronomical observations, calculated
astronomical events such as eclipses, prepared astrological predictions, and maintained the calendar
(Needham, 1959). After all, a successful calendar not only served practical needs, but also confirmed
the consonance between Heaven and the imperial court.
Analysis of surviving astronomical records inscribed on oracle bones reveals a Chinese lunisolar
calendar, with intercalation of lunar months, dating back to the Shang dynasty of the fourteenth
century B.C. Various intercalation schemes were developed for the early calendars, including the
nineteen-year and 76-year lunar phase cycles that came to be known in the West as the Metonic cycle
and Callipic cycle.
From the earliest records, the beginning of the year occurred at a New Moon near the winter solstice.
The choice of month for beginning the civil year varied with time and place, however. In the late
second century B.C., a calendar reform established the practice, which continues today, of requiring
the winter solstice to occur in month 11. This reform also introduced the intercalation system in which
dates of New Moons are compared with the 24 solar terms. However, calculations were based on the
mean motions resulting from the cyclic relationships. Inequalities in the Moon's motions were
incorporated as early as the seventh century A.D. (Sivin, 1969), but the Sun's mean longitude was
used for calculating the solar terms until 1644 (Liu and Stephenson, in press).
Years were counted from a succession of eras established by reigning emperors. Although the
accession of an emperor would mark a new era, an emperor might also declare a new era at various
times within his reign. The introduction of a new era was an attempt to reestablish a broken
connection between Heaven and Earth, as personified by the emperor. The break might be revealed by
the death of an emperor, the occurrence of a natural disaster, or the failure of astronomers to predict a
celestial event such as an eclipse. In the latter case, a new era might mark the introduction of new
astronomical or calendrical models.
Sexagenary cycles were used to count years, months, days, and fractions of a day using the set of
Celestial Stems and Terrestrial Branches described in Section 6.1. Use of the sixty-day cycle is seen
in the earliest astronomical records. By contrast the sixty-year cycle was introduced in the first
century A.D. or possibly a century earlier (Tung, 1960; Needham, 1959). Although the day count has
fallen into disuse in everyday life, it is still tabulated in calendars. The initial year (jia-zi) of the
current year cycle began on 1984 February 2, which is the third day (bing-yin) of the day cycle.
Western (pre-Copernican) astronomical theories were introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries in

the seventeenth century. Gradually, more modern Western concepts became known. Following the
revolution of 1911, the traditional practice of counting years from the accession of an emperor was
abolished.
7. Julian Day Numbers and Julian Date

[omitted]
8. The Julian Calendar

The Julian calendar, introduced by Juliius Caesar in -45, was a solar calendar with months of fixed
lengths. Every fourth year an intercalary day was added to maintain synchrony between the calendar
year and the tropical year. It served as a standard for European civilization until the Gregorian Reform
of +1582.
Today the principles of the Julian calendar continue to be used by chronologists. The Julian proleptic
calendar is formed by applying the rules of the Julian calendar to times before Caesar's reform. This
provides a simple chronological system for correlating other calendars and serves as the basis for the
Julian day numbers.
8.1 Rules
Years are classified as normal years of 365 days and leap years of 366 days. Leap years occur in years
that are evenly divisible by 4. For this purpose, year 0 (or 1 B.C.) is considered evenly divisible by 4.
The year is divided into twelve formalized months that were eventually adopted for the Gregorian
calendar.
8.2 History of the Julian Calendar
The year -45 has been called the "year of confusion," because in that year Julius Caesar inserted 90
days to bring the months of the Roman calendar back to their traditional place with respect to the
seasons. This was Caesar's first step in replacing a calendar that had gone badly awry. Although the
pre-Julian calendar was lunisolar in inspiration, its months no longer followed the lunar phases and its
year had lost step with the cycle of seasons (see Michels, 1967; Bickerman, 1974). Following the
advice of Sosigenes, an Alexandrine astronomer, Caesar created a solar calendar with twelve months
of fixed lengths and a provision for an intercalary day to be added every fourth year. As a result, the
average length of the Julian calendar year was 365.25 days. This is consistent with the length of the
tropical year as it was known at the time.
Following Caesar's death, the Roman calendrical authorities misapplied the leap-year rule, with the
result that every third, rather than every fourth, year was intercalary. Although detailed evidence is
lacking, it is generally believed that Emperor Augustus corrected the situation by omitting
intercalation from the Julian years -8 through +4. After this the Julian calendar finally began to
function as planned.
Through the Middle Ages the use of the Julian calendar evolved and acquired local peculiarities that
continue to snare the unwary historian. There were variations in the initial epoch for counting years,
the date for beginning the year, and the method of specifying the day of the month. Not only did these
vary with time and place, but also with purpose. Different conventions were sometimes used for
dating ecclesiastical records, fiscal transactions, and personal correspondence.
Caesar designated January 1 as the beginning of the year. However, other conventions flourished at
different times and places. The most popular alternatives were March 1, March 25, and December 25.
This continues to cause problems for historians, since, for example, +998 February 28 as recorded in a
city that began its year on March 1, would be the same day as +999 February 28 of a city that began
the year on January 1.
Days within the month were originally counted from designated division points within the month:
Kalends, Nones, and Ides. The Kalends is the first day of the month. The Ides is the thirteenth of the
month, except in March, May, July, and October, when it is the fifteenth day. The Nones is always
eight days before the Ides (see Table 8.2.1). Dates falling between these division points are designated
by counting inclusively backward from the upcoming division point. Intercalation was performed by
repeating the day VI Kalends March, i.e., inserting a day between VI Kalends March (February 24)
and VII Kalends March (February 23).
By the eleventh century, consecutive counting of days from the beginning of the month came into use.
Local variations continued, however, including counts of days from dates that commemorated local
saints. The inauguration and spread of the Gregorian calendar resulted in the adoption of a uniform
standard for recording dates.
Cappelli (1930), Grotefend and Grotefend (1941), and Cheney (1945) offer guidance through the
maze of medieval dating.
9. Calendar Conversion Algorithms

[omitted]
10. References
[to be added later]
This information is reprinted from the Explanatory Supplement

to the Astronomical Almanac, P. Kenneth Seidelmann, editor,
with permission from University Science Books, Sausalito, CA
94965.
Page author: Lyle Huber <lhuber(at)nmsu.edu>
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Calendars and their History Page 1 of 18

This information is reprinted from the Explanatory Supplement

1.1 Astronomical Bases of Calendars

1.2 Nonastronomical Bases of Calendars: the Week

1.3 Calendar Reform and Accuracy

1.4 Historical Eras and Chronology

2. The Gregorian Calendar

2.1 Rules for Civil Use

* In a leap year, February has 29 days.

2.2 Ecclesiastical Rules

2.3 History of the Gregorian Calendar

3. The Hebrew Calendar

3.1.1 Determining Tishri 1

The dehiyyot are as follows:

3.1.2 Reasons for the Dehiyyot

3.1.3 Determining the Length of the Year

3.2 History of the Hebrew Calendar

4. The Islamic Calendar

4.1.1 Visibility of the Crescent Moon

4.2 History of the Islamic Calendar

5. The Indian Calendar

5.1 Rules for Civil Use

12. Phalguna 30 Phalguna 1 February 20

5.2 Principles of the Religious Calendar

5.3 History of the Indian Calendar

6. The Chinese Calendar

P-7 Chushu Limit of Heat 150 Aug. 23 31.1

6.2 History of the Chinese Calendar

Western (pre-Copernican) astronomical theories were introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries in

7. Julian Day Numbers and Julian Date

8. The Julian Calendar

8.2 History of the Julian Calendar

9. Calendar Conversion Algorithms

This information is reprinted from the Explanatory Supplement

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