this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024

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Why the revised Julian calendar wasn't widely adopted? (fedia.io)

submitted 7 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It makes an even better job than the Gregorian calendar when it comes to approximating the calendar to the solar year.

top 29 comments

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

It was intended to bring the existing Julian calendar in Eastern orthodox churches closer in to line with the gregorian calendar. It was not meant to be a universal calendar.

It's not realistic to alter the existing calendar in this day and age. The gregorian calendar was already too embedded in 1923 to change, and now it's globally dominant.

The only way to replace the calendar now would probably have to be a brand new calendar (to prevent confusion with the existing calendar, it'd need new month names for example) OR a global agreed change to the gregorian calendar.

Neither is likely; there doesn't seem to be a big enough need or benefit to get countries together to change this. They can't even agree on action on pressing crises like the climate crisis.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 minutes ago* (last edited 12 minutes ago)

Guessing not much will happen to the calendar until (well, if) mankind ever settles on other planets. Some universal mode of timekeeping would need to be decided upon for consistency between planets with differing day and year lengths.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

That system was laid out too late into human development, though it's still possible it just needs to be given time. Though that won't stop me from using my own system.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 minutes ago

Getting a 404 at that page, do you have a mirror?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 53 minutes ago

Interesting. Although I'd contend no one "celebrates" daylight savings. It's not a holiday, and unfortunately saying "it's not 9am in my house" probably won't get people far.

I do like the percentage clock idea.

I have a 24 hour analogue clock on my wall - one turn of the clock with the hour hand is a full 24 hours instead of 12. It really changed my concept of time in the day. 12 noon is at the bottom of the clock.

It always feels striking to see the clock at noon and realise how small the morning really is due to sleep and how much of the day is left.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Wikipedia tells me it was come up with in 1923, long after both global trade and the industrial revolution. You need all the countries to agree on the same calendar system or commerce is really hindered. It was way too late to change in 1923.

The French tried to change the calendar to something more sensible and closer to metric after the French Revolution. It did not last long.

Things seem to work just fine with the calendar we have anyway.

Also, it could be worse. The Mayans had three different calendar systems- a solar calendar, a lunar calendar, and a 260-day calendar which we don't know the origin of, but I like Dr. Ed Barnhart's theory that it's very close to a human gestational period.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Things seem to work fine with the calendar we have anyway.

programmer's eye twitches

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I meant in terms of commerce. You IT people are on your own.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

Oh we know lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

I don't think the french calendar would have ever worked, as humans seem to always divide their working into 7 day weeks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago

It was never popular even in France, for a simple reason: the week became 10 days but the weekly rest day was still only 1.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

That’s a bold statement. This was a western invention that spread from Greece around the 5th century. Not always

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

It's literally recorded in the Torah, which was at least 1000 years before that

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The Torah is still in the west dog. You think the whole world is Europe and the Middle East? China divided them into weeks of ten.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Thought you were talking about in general, my bad

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I was responding to you saying humans seem to always divide by 7. It’s an interesting point you make that it’s been done for a long time but we are saying two things.

You actually made me think of something I’m gonna go ask the Hebrew specialist, did 7 days in the Hebrew Bible mean 7. I know 7 is their number for a lot just like 10,000 in Chinese. :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

My lemmy client only shows the comment without context, so unless I have a good memory, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

lol, I have a horrible memory so I get you. Kind of you to explain! :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

A week is one quarter of a moon cycle. Basically we either have to choose solar or lunar and solar makes more sense because of seasons. Problem is we chose both.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It would have worked if the rest of the world (or at least the major European powers) were on board. But since most of them were still ruled by kings, that wasn't going to happen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

And Christianity being a major religion in Europe which teaches a 7 day week, and I believe Islam in the east does the same. China also used the 7 day week at this point, too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Very much so. They were never going to get the Pope on board, and without the Pope, they wouldn't have had much of Europe on their side.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

look at the chaos that Y2K was. one doesn't simply adopt a new calendar.

it's too ingrained. it's like ripping out the foundations of a house to build a new one. it would have to be one hell of a calendar

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

There is a pretty fucking solid one:

13 months exactly 4 weeks long. 364 days. Two unique days: New Years Day and Leap Day. Just put them together.

Now every month is the same length. Every numbered day is the same day of the week in every month for the whole year.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That's the International Fixed Calendar?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

Yeah, that's the one. The one that makes a modicum of sense

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

People with their birthday on Monday are not going like that their birthday is always on Monday..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

Either A) New Years Day is a day of the week and your birthday changes every year (but in a vastly more predictable way; NYD will make next year's dates one weekday ahead), or B) New Years Day is a completely separate day and all years are identical, and you choose your birthday to be celebrated on the closest agreeable weekend if that matters to you

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

Yeah. There aren't any REAL issues with the current calendar. Months aren't equal, we have leap year. But it doesn't break anything, it's just annoyances you live with.