31–40 of 63 posts
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?
Let’s not even start on pre-decimal coinage or pre-metric units
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)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Hard to measure for people back then. Solstices and the equinoxes are easier.
> Christmas wasn't invented yet whan Julius Caesar was alive.
Doesn’t necessarily mean that Christmas was invented when the Calendar was fixed. The logic is the other way around. Solstices and the equinoxes are tend to be used as reference for special/holy days. Caesar‘s calendar gave them a certain date
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
> Why? You could also eg pick where earth is closest or farthest from the sun, or at exactly average distance or anything like that. Hard to measure for people back then. Solstices and the equinoxes are easier. > Christmas wasn't invented yet whan Julius Caesar was alive. Doesn’t necessarily mean that Christmas was invented when the Calendar was fixed. The logic is the other way around. Solstices and the equinoxes ar…
The Egyptians picked the appearance of a certain store above the horizon as their fixed point for the year (or something like that). That was rational for them, but doesn't have all that much to do with equinoxes.
It also makes the names of September, October, November, and December make sense. Those names come from the Roman words for 7, 8, 9, and 10, which were the numbers of those months in the old Roman calendar which did start the year on March 1. The Romans switch the start to January sometime around 700 BCE giving us the current ridiculous situation where those months are two months later in the year than their names suggest.
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.
It seems awkward not ending on the last day of the month. In NEw Zealand it's close, the FY ends on 31 March.
A decent case can be made for March 1 as the start of the year. With March 1 as the start of the year the extra day in leap years then comes on the last day of the year. This makes dealing with leap years when calculating the day of the week from a date simpler. It also makes the names of September, October, November, and December make sense. Those names come from the Roman words for 7, 8, 9, and 10, which were the n…
That doesn’t look right.