Calendars and the Stupidity Thereof

What is the big deal about calendars? Plenty if you look close enough. As it is people were conned into celebrating festivals when it is convenient for the feudal lords not when they need to be celebrated.

New Year

When the earth is going round and round about the son in an unrelenting manner for billions of years, where is the beginning or end of an year? It is just a point we were a year ago. But so are we everyday as the son rises, the earth was exactly at the same point a year ago and it will be there next year too.

Just to count how many times we revolved around the son in our life, we started counting years taking one point in our rotation around the son and started using it to mark the end or beginning of an year.

The forefathers whose wisdom continues to astound scholars around the globe decided that the New Year must have something "new". They also found that God had provided a clear marker too - it is the spring! So New Year is celebrated on the first day of the spring. In the northern hemi-sphere, it was celebrated about the spring equinox. In many eastern countries, the New Year is celebrated coinciding with the arrival of spring even today. But western societies are celebrating New Year on the first day of January when the environment is chilly and gloomy. Why so? In the bygone days of the Roman Empire, the feudal lords bribed the king and the clergy to move it from spring to winter. It saves them valuable working days. If the New Year is celebrated in spring when the days are conducive to get the fellows to work in fields, they would be making merry instead of toiling. That is it. Lobbying and special interest groups (SIGs) were in vogue back then too!

Months

Have you ever wondered why there are 12 months in a year or why there are 12 hours on a clock face? Well here is the reason - 12 is the chosen number because there are 12 zodiac signs - that's all!

Those forefathers, who based their calendar on the movement of the moon began the month with no moon day or the full moon day. These calendars are still in vogue.

Those forefathers, who aligned their calendar with the son, began the month on the day the son entered a new zodiac sign.

Now, as you all know, the month begins neither on the day son changes signs nor is aligned with the movements of the moon. Is it right?

Month has 30 days - why? A month is aligned with the movement of the moon from no moon to full moon. Once such cycle takes approximately 29.5 days. Since it is not possible to start a day in the middle of the day, 30 was taken. But the year is dependent on the rotation of the earth around the son. The forefathers found out that there is a difference in the moon-based year and the don-based year. Moon completes 12 cycles and some in the time it tales earth to complete one rotation around the son. They came up with a complex set of rules to reconcile the differences between the lunar year and the solar year.

Vatican decided on the solar year and adjusted the months to suit the solar year. They made it a counting calendar delinking it from the astronomical movements. To adjust they made every alternate month 31 or 30 days. So beginning with January 31, February 30, March 31, April 30, May 31, June 30, July 31, August 30, September 31, October 30, November 31 and December 30.

Now do I hear you saying "Wait a minute. Hang on. There is an error in your logic"?

No there is no error in the logic. But then the SIGs stepped in. They said, "Hey hang on, wait a minute. Do you know we pay wages monthly? We need longer August as it falls in summer. Shorten January or February as they fall in winter". So the months were reassigned, August, October and December became 30 days with September and November being relegated to 30 days.

But the days in a year became 367 where as it took only 365 days for the earth