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How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

davidallengreen.com

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Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#21

Post by fsckboy »

mmooss wrote: post #5
cjs_ac wrote: post #2

In the UK, the financial year ends on 5 April. This is Lady Day (25 March) plus the 11 days lost in the transition from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

Most US annual taxes are due April 15; is that related somehow?

US tax return forms/documentation is due April 15, but the taxes needed to be paid by the previous Jan 15 (minus a several month reprieve for taxes on income that exceeds your previous year's income)

on April 15 the taxes on your first quarter of the current year are also due.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#22

Post by dylan604 »

nyc111 wrote: post #17

"And the problem was that people ignored what they were supposed to think, and carried on celebrating the new year on 1 January anyway, as they had done since time immemorial." "Time immemorial" is an exaggeration, right, as many commenters here gave contrary examples.

To a genZ, 1980 was time immemorial. It's definitely a relative term

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#23

Post by fsckboy »

dylan604 wrote: post #7
bee_rider wrote: post #3

It is absurd and stupid to have the beginning year not also be the beginning of a month. (Same for weeks to months, things a dumb feature of our calendar). But December vs March is totally arbitrary, right?

When you base the first of anything based on the phases of the moon, you'll more often not be aligned with the 1st of any month. Basing a calendar on the phases of the moon doesn't line up with the full orbit around the sun, so something has to change somewhere. ~365.25 / ~29.53 doesn't work out to a whole number, so whatchagunnado? Leap seconds and leap years! Perfect!

> ~365.25

~365.2425 includes the leap year, century, and 4 century gregorian adjustments, and it's not a difficult number to remember actually.

"it's not quite .25? how much is it shy? .2425"

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#24

Post by eru »

stevetodd wrote: post #11
mmooss wrote: post #4

In Exodus 12:1-2, at the beginning of the section that decrees Passover, God also tells Moses and Aaron that the month of Passover is the first month of the year: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ..."

March coincides with the first month of the Jewish calendar. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2164005/jewis... It was also the first month of the Roman calendar until January and February were added. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martius_(month)

In March, the month of war, is also when Romans mustered their citizen levy of troops.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#25

Post by eru »

adrian_b wrote: post #10
bee_rider wrote: post #3

It is absurd and stupid to have the beginning year not also be the beginning of a month. (Same for weeks to months, things a dumb feature of our calendar). But December vs March is totally arbitrary, right?

The only rational points for the beginning of a year are the solstices or the equinoxes. From the point of view of an inhabitant of the northern hemisphere, the choice remains between the Winter solstice, i.e. the moment when the Sun begins its journey on the sky back towards us, after reaching a maximum distance on the sky from us, and the Spring equinox, the moment when the Sun returns on the sky to the northern he…

> The only rational points for the beginning of a year are the solstices or the equinoxes.

Why? You could also eg pick where earth is closest or farthest from the sun, or at exactly average distance or anything like that.

> So the calendar of Julius Caesar is the origin of the adoption of the 25th of December for the Christmas and of the 25th of March for the beginning of the year in several countries.

Christmas wasn't invented yet whan Julius Caesar was alive. So the story must be a bit more complicated than that.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#26

Post by mmooss »

fsckboy wrote: post #21
mmooss wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most US annual taxes are due April 15; is that related somehow?

US tax return forms/documentation is due April 15, but the taxes needed to be paid by the previous Jan 15 (minus a several month reprieve for taxes on income that exceeds your previous year's income) on April 15 the taxes on your first quarter of the current year are also due.

Jan 15 is quarterly estimates for those who have them. Annual taxes are due April 15 (as well as Q1 estimates).

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#27

Post by eru »

roenxi wrote: post #12
bee_rider wrote: post #3

It is absurd and stupid to have the beginning year not also be the beginning of a month. (Same for weeks to months, things a dumb feature of our calendar). But December vs March is totally arbitrary, right?

Yes and no. As the article reminds us many of the months have numbers in the name. It is arbitrary to have December as the 10th month, but having the thing with 10 in the name as the tenth thing is somewhat more satisfying than having it as the 12th.

Yes, February should be the earliest month in the year and numbered as month 0. Then October could have number 8, and so on, and January could be the last month and the two faced god would be good for looking forward and back, as people are wont to do at the end of the year.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#28

Post by eru »

bawolff wrote: post #14
bee_rider wrote: post #3

It is absurd and stupid to have the beginning year not also be the beginning of a month. (Same for weeks to months, things a dumb feature of our calendar). But December vs March is totally arbitrary, right?

> But December vs March is totally arbitrary, right? Well january is literally named after janus, the deity of beginnings and endings.

Yes, so January should be the last month of the year so people can look forward and back, and February could be month 0. Then everything would line up with October being month 8.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#29

Post by eru »

nyc111 wrote: post #17

"And the problem was that people ignored what they were supposed to think, and carried on celebrating the new year on 1 January anyway, as they had done since time immemorial." "Time immemorial" is an exaggeration, right, as many commenters here gave contrary examples.

Time immemorial is a specific legal term of art.

Re: How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year

#30

Post by bee_rider »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #19
ghjfrdghibt wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I'd go with 13 months of 4 weeks each. The only issue I see would be if you were born on a Monday your birthday would always be on a Monday.

Do you have an extra bonus day at the end that doesn’t belong to any week?

Make that the transition day.
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