What year is it and what calendar is it? Curious calendars of different peoples of the world Modern chronology in different countries

What year is it now? The question is not as simple as it might seem. Everything is relative. People have created calendars to measure the passage of time. But time is ephemeral, it cannot be caught, and the starting point cannot be marked. This is where the complexity begins. How to find a start? What to count on? And with what steps?

1. 2018 in Russia.
Most countries in the world follow the Gregorian calendar. Including Russia. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to replace the Julian calendar. The difference between these two calendars today is 13 days, and it increases by 3 days every 400 years. That is why there is such a holiday as the Old New Year: This is the Julian New Year and some countries still celebrate it.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 in Catholic countries, and it was gradually spread to other countries.

2. 2561 in Thailand.
In Thailand, 2018 will be the year 2561. Officially, Thailand lives according to the Buddhist lunar calendar, in which the chronology begins from the moment when the Buddha reached nirvana.

However, they also use the Gregorian calendar.

3. 2011 in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years younger than the regular calendar. Moreover, it has 13 months in a year. 12 months have 30 days and the last one is very short, only 5 or 6 days depending on whether it is a leap year or not. In addition, their new day does not begin at midnight, but at dawn. The Ethiopian calendar is based on the ancient calendar of Alexandria.

4. 5778 in Israel.
The Jewish calendar is officially used in Israel along with the Gregorian. All Jewish holidays, days of remembrance and birthdays of relatives are celebrated in accordance with the first. Months begin with a new moon, and the first day of the year (Rosh Hashanah) can only be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Therefore, in order for all this to work, the previous year is extended by one day.

The Jewish calendar takes its chronology from the very first new moon, which took place on October 7, 3761 BC.

5. 1439 in Pakistan.
The Islamic calendar is used to determine the timing of religious holidays and as the official calendar in some Muslim countries. The chronology begins with the Hijra, the first Muslim emigration to Medina (622 AD).

The day here starts at sunset, not at midnight. The beginning of the month is the day when the crescent first appears after the new moon. The length of the year in the Islamic calendar is 10-11 days shorter than the solar year.

6. 1396 in Iran.
The Persian calendar, or solar Hijri calendar, is the official calendar in Iran and Afghanistan. This astronomical solar calendar was created by a group of astronomers including the famous poet Omar Khayyam.

The chronology starts with the Hijri just like the Islamic calendar, but it is also based on the solar year so the months stay in the same seasons. The week starts on Saturday and ends on Friday.

7. 1939 in India.
The unified national calendar of India was created not so long ago and introduced in 1957. It is based on calculations from the Saka era, an ancient chronology widely used in India and Cambodia.

In India, there are other calendars used by different peoples and tribes. Some begin the chronology with the death of Krishna (3102 B.C.); others date from Vikram's rise to power in 57; the third group, according to the Buddhist calendar, begins the chronology from the date of the death of Gautama Buddha (543 AD).

8. 30 year in Japan.
In Japan, there are 2 existing chronologies: one that begins with the birth of Christ and the traditional one. The latter is based on the years of the reign of Japanese emperors. Each emperor gives a name to his period: the motto of his reign.

Since 1989, there has been an "epoch of peace and tranquility", and the throne belongs to Emperor Akihito. The previous era - the Enlightened World - lasted 64 years. Most official documents use 2 dates: one according to the Gregorian calendar and one according to the current era in Japan.

9. 4716 in China.
Chinese calendar used in Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam and other Asian countries. The chronology begins with the date when Emperor Huangdi began his reign in 2637 BC.

The calendar is cyclical and is based on the astronomical cycles of Jupiter. Within 60 years, Jupiter circles the Sun 5 times, and these are the 5 elements of the Chinese calendar. One circle of Jupiter around the Sun takes 12 years, and these years get their names from animals. 2018 (Gregorian) will be the Year of the Dog.

10. 107 in North Korea.
The Juche calendar has been used in North Korea since July 8, 1997, along with the chronology of the birth of Christ. Countdown - 1912, the year of birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and the country's eternal president. His year of birth is year 1; There is no year 0 in this calendar.

When writing dates, both calendars are used. The Gregorian calendar year is written in parentheses next to the Juche year.

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What year is it now? This is not as simple a question as it seems. Everything is relative.
People created calendars to measure the passage of time. But time is ephemeral
cannot be caught and marked with a reference point. Therein lies the difficulty. How to find a start? Where to count? And what steps?

This article website talks about different current calendars. Calendars exist and existed much more. But even these few are enough to realize all the relativity and ephemerality of time.

2018 will come to Russia

Most countries in the world follow the Gregorian calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to replace the Julian one. The difference between these calendars is now 13 days and increases by 3 days every 400 years. Therefore, such a holiday as the Old New Year was formed - this is the New Year according to the old style, according to the Julian calendar, which continues to be celebrated out of habit in a number of countries. But no one refuses the usual New Year either.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 in Catholic countries and gradually, over several centuries, spread to other states. According to him, January 1, 2018 will come.

The year 2561 will come to Thailand

In Thailand in 2018 (according to the Gregorian calendar) the year 2561 will come. Officially, Thailand lives according to the Buddhist lunar calendar, where the chronology is from the attainment of Nirvana by the Buddha.

But the usual calendar is also in use. For foreigners, exceptions are often made and the year on goods or documents may be indicated in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Also, according to the Buddhist calendar, they live in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

2011 is coming to Ethiopia

The Ethiopian calendar is about 8 years behind our usual calendar. And besides, it contains 13 months in a year. 12 months of 30 days and the last, 13th month is very short - 5 or 6 days, depending on whether it is a leap year or not. And the day does not begin at midnight, but at sunrise. The Ethiopian calendar is based on the ancient Alexandrian calendar.

The year 5778 will come to Israel

The Jewish calendar is officially used in Israel along with the Gregorian. According to this calendar, Jewish holidays, memorial days and birthdays of relatives are celebrated. Months according to this calendar come strictly on the new moon, and the first day of the year (Rosh Hashanah) can only fall on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. And in order for Rosh Hashanah to fall on a valid day of the week, the previous year is lengthened by one day.

The Jewish calendar begins with the very first new moon, which occurred on Monday, October 7, 3761 BC. e., at 5 o'clock and 204 parts. An hour in the Jewish calendar consists of 1,080 parts, and each part is made up of 76 moments.

1439 will come in Pakistan

The Islamic calendar is used to determine the dates of religious holidays
and as an official calendar in some Muslim countries. chronology
is conducted from the date of the resettlement of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Muslims from Mecca to
Medina (622 AD).

The day in this calendar begins at sunset, not at midnight. The beginning of the month is considered the day when the crescent moon appears for the first time after the new moon.
The length of the Islamic calendar year is 10-11 days shorter than the solar year
years, and the months shift relative to the seasons. The months that were
summer, after a while will become winter, and vice versa.

1396 will come in Iran

The Iranian calendar, or solar hijra, is the official calendar in
Iran and Afghanistan. This astronomical solar calendar was designed
with the participation of Omar Khayyam.

The Iranian calendar is based on the Hijri, like the Islamic calendar, but it is based on the solar year, so its months always fall at the same time of the year. The week of the Iranian calendar starts on Saturday and ends on Friday, which is considered a public holiday.

The year 1939 will come according to the Indian calendar.

The unified national calendar of India was developed relatively recently and
adopted in 1957. His calculations are based on the Saka era - an ancient system
chronology, common in India and Cambodia.

Also in India, there are other calendars used by different peoples and tribes. Some take the date of Krishna's death (3102 BC) as a starting point, others take Vikram's coming to power in 57, and others, according to the Buddhist calendar, start counting years from the date of the death of Gautama Buddha (543 AD).

Japan turns 30

In Japan, there is both a chronology system from the Nativity of Christ, and a traditional one, which is based on the years of the reign of Japanese emperors. Each emperor gives the name of the era - the motto of his reign.

Since 1989, in Japan, the "Era of Peace and Tranquility", the throne has been occupied by Emperor Akihito. The previous era - "The Enlightened World" - lasted 64 years. In most official documents, it is customary to use 2 dates - according to the Gregorian calendar and according to the year of the current era in Japan.

What year is it now? The question is not as simple as it might seem. Everything is relative. We figure out what China cares about the rotation of Jupiter around the Sun, why it is only the 30th year in Japan, and the 107th in North Korea.

2018 in Russia

2561 in Thailand

2011 in Ethiopia

5778 in Israel

1439 in Pakistan

1396 in Iran

1939 in India

30 years in Japan

4716 in China

107 in North Korea

The calendar is a rhythm that is designed to unite the outer universe with the inner man into a kind of harmonious whole. The attitude to time testifies not only to a certain level of culture, but also is an expression of those internal features that distinguish one culture from another. Naturally, the attitude to time within a single culture affects, first of all, the calendar. However, the calendar is not only a rhythm, but also a rhythmic memory of mankind. Even the most ancient of calendars, such as the solar calendar ancient egypt or the solar-lunar calendar of Babylon, with their periodically recurring cycles of religious holidays, have always pursued one important goal: to be, first of all, reliable keepers of the memory of what lay in the fundamental principle of each of the cultures. Jewish calendar- is a religious calendar and the official calendar of Israel. This is a combined solar-lunar calendar. Years are calculated from the creation of the world, which according to Judaism took place in 3761 BC. This year corresponds to the year of the world (Anno Mundi) the first. For example, 1996 corresponds to the Jewish year 5757.
Eastern (Chinese) calendar, which has been in force for several thousand years in Vietnam, Kampuchea, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan and some other Asian countries, was compiled in times in the middle of the third millennium BC. This calendar is a 60-year cyclical system.
The Chinese sixty years old was formed as a result of the combination of the duodecimal cycle (“earthly branches”), for each year of which the name of the animal was assigned, and the decimal cycle of “elements” (“heavenly branches”): five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) , each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs, personifying the male and feminine(that is why in the Chinese calendar there are consecutive years corresponding to different animals, but one element). The Chinese calendar does not count years in an endless sequence. Years have names that repeat every 60 years. Historically, years were counted from the year of the emperor's accession to the throne, which was abolished after the 1911 revolution. According to Chinese tradition, the first year of the reign of the semi-legendary Yellow Emperor Huang Di was 2698 BC. The alternative system is based on the fact that the first historical record of the beginning of the 60-day cycle was made on March 8, 2637 BC.
This date is considered the date of invention of the calendar, and all cycles are counted from this date. Timekeeping in Japan is a Chinese invention. Each emperor, ascending the throne, approved the motto under which his reign would pass. In ancient times, the emperor sometimes changed the motto if the beginning of the reign was unsuccessful.
In any case, the beginning of the emperor's motto was considered the first year of the new reign, and new era- the period of government under this motto. All mottos are unique, so they can be used as a universal time scale. During the Meiji Restoration (1868), a unified Japanese chronology system was introduced, dating back to 660 BC. - the legendary date of the founding of the Japanese state by Emperor Jimmu. This system was actively used only until the end of the Second World War. Long term isolation Indian Principalities from each other led to the fact that almost each of them had its own local calendar system. Until recently, several official civil calendars and about thirty local calendars were used in the country, which served to determine the time of various religious holidays and ceremonies. Among them you can find solar, lunar and lunisolar.
The most popular in India is the Samvat calendar (vikram samvat), in which the length of the solar year is to some extent related to the length of the lunar months. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book The Discovery of India, written in 1944, points to the widespread use of the Samvat calendar. He wrote that "in most parts of India, the vikram samvat calendar is followed." In April 1944, celebrations dedicated to the Samvat calendar were widely celebrated throughout India. They were associated with the 2000th anniversary of the introduction of the Vikram Samvat era at that time. Since the Vikram Samvat era starts from 57 BC, therefore, the year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 2067-2068 of the Samvat calendar. In the southern part of the country, the Saka civil calendar is widely used, in which the beginning of counting years goes by from March 15, 78 AD The New Year is celebrated on it around April 12 with a discrepancy of two to three days. The year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 1932-1933 of the Saka calendar. In India, other eras were also used for a long time, such as the era of Kali Yuga, which dates back to February 18, 3102 BC; the era of Nirvana, which has been counting since 543 BC. - the estimated date of death of the Buddha Sakya Muni. The Fazli era was also used - one of the last historical eras in India. It was introduced by the padishah Akbar (1542-1606), but it was used only in official documents. The epoch of this era is the date September 10, 1550 AD. The Gregorian calendar, which began to be used in India since 1757, is also widely used. Currently, almost all published books, magazines and newspapers are dated by the Gregorian calendar, but double dating is common: according to the Gregorian calendar and according to the local, civil. The complexity of the calendar systems turned out to be so significant that the government of India was forced to reform and introduce a single national calendar. For this purpose, in November 1952, under the chairmanship of the prominent scientist, Professor Meghnad Saha, a special committee was created for the reform of the calendar. By decision of the government, it was adopted in India on March 22, 1957 for civil and public purposes. To perform religious rites, it was not forbidden to use local calendars. Mayan calendar originates from the mythical date - August 13, 3113 BC. It was from her that the Indians counted the past years and days. The starting point plays the same role for the Maya as the date of the "Christmas" in the European chronology. Why precisely August 13, 3113 BC? Modern science has not yet been able to explain this. Presumably this day, in the views of the Mayans, was marked by a cataclysm such as the Flood or something like that. In the Mayan calendar, time is divided into cycles or "Suns". There are six in total. Each cycle, the Mayan priests claimed, ends with the alleged complete destruction of the earth's civilization. The past four "Suns" completely destroyed the four human races, and only a few people survived and told about what happened. The "First Sun" lasted 4008 years and ended with earthquakes. The "Second Sun" lasted 4010 years and ended with hurricanes. The "Third Sun" totaled 4081 years - the earth was destroyed by "fiery rains" that poured from the craters of huge volcanoes. The "Fourth Sun" was crowned with floods. At present, earthlings are experiencing the "Fifth Sun", the end of which will be on December 21, 2012. The sixth cycle in the calendar is empty...
Already in the first centuries of formation Christianity attempts were made to bridge the chronological gap between modernity and the sacred events described in the Bible. As a result of the calculations, about 200 different versions of the era “from the creation of the world”, or “from Adam”, appeared, in which the period of time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ ranged from 3483 to 6984 years. Three so-called world eras became most widespread: Alexandrian (starting point - 5501, in fact 5493 BC), Antioch (5969 BC) and later Byzantine. In the 6th century, the world era began to be used in Byzantium with the beginning of March 1, 5508 BC. The number of days in it was conducted from Adam, who, based on biblical premises, was created on Friday, March 1, 1 of this era. Based on the fact that this happened in the middle of the sixth day of creation, by analogy it was assumed that Jesus was born in the middle of the sixth millennium, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Pet. 3, 8).
In the Nile Valley, where a calendar was created in time immemorial, which existed with Egyptian culture about 4 centuries. The origin of this calendar is associated with Sirius - the brightest star in the sky, sung by many poets. So, Sirius gave Egypt the world's first solar calendar, which underlies the chronology of the entire Old World, up to the present. The fact is that the time interval between the first two morning sunrises of Sirius, which equally coincided in Egypt with the summer solstice and the flood of the Nile, is just 365 and 1/4 days, well known to us. However, the Egyptians set an integer number of days as the length of their year, namely 365. Thus, for every 4 years, seasonal phenomena were ahead of the Egyptian calendar by 1 day. Obviously, in order for Sirius to go through all the dates of the shortened year (out of 365 days), it took already 365 × 4 = 1460 days. But again, bearing in mind that the Egyptian year is shorter than the solar year by 1/4 day (6 hours), Sirius needed one more year (1460+1=1461) to return exactly to the same date of the Egyptian calendar. This cyclical period in 1461 Egyptian year is the famous "Sotic period" (Great Year of Sothis).
ancient greek calendar was lunisolar with primitive and irregular intercalation rules. From about 500 B.C. Octateria (octaeteris) became widespread - 8-year cycles in which five ordinary years 12 months were combined with three years of 13 months. Subsequently, these rules were borrowed by the Roman calendar. Octateries in Greece continued to be used even after Julius Caesar's reform. The beginning of the year was in the middle of summer.
In the second half of the 3rd century BC. e. Ancient Greek historian Timaeus and mathematician Eratosthenes introduced the chronology from the first Olympic Games. The games were held once every four years on days close to the summer solstice. They began on the 11th and ended on the 16th day after the new moon. When counting years for the Olympiads, each year was designated by the serial number of the games and the number of the year in the four years. The first Olympic Games opened on July 1, 776 BC. according to the Julian calendar. In 394 AD Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games. The Romans called them "otium graecum" (Greek idleness). However, the chronology according to the Olympiads was preserved for some time. Why old style called Julian? The first attempt to reform the ancient Egyptian calendar was made long before Julius Caesar by Ptolemy III Euergetes, who in his famous Canopic Decree (238 BC) first introduced the concept of a leap year, thereby equalizing the error of 1 day, for 4 years. Thus, one year out of four became equal to 366 days. Unfortunately, this reform did not take root then: firstly, the concept of a leap year was completely alien to the very spirit of the centuries-old Egyptian time reckoning, and secondly, the ancient traditions were still too strong.
Only in the era of Roman domination, the Great Year of Sothis, already known to us, ceased to exist as a real calendar-astronomical measure. Gaius Julius Caesar, with the help of the famous Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, replaced the Roman calendar with the reformed Egyptian calendar of the Canopic Decree. In 46 B.C. Rome, with all its possessions, moved to a new calendar account, which has since received the name Julian. It was this calendar that became the basis of the history of Christian culture. The Julian calendar was not accurate enough and gave an error of 1 day in 128 years. In 1582, the spring equinox moved back by (1582-325)/128 = 10 days. Because of the importance of this holiday for Christendom, the Catholic Church was convinced of the need for a calendar reform. Pope Gregory XIII, who came in 1572, reformed the calendar on February 24, 1582. All Christians were commanded to count October 5, 1582 as October 15. The calendar is named Gregorian.
OMAR 1 (581-644, reign 634-644), the second of the "righteous" Caliphs of the Arab Caliphate, introduces Muslim (Islamic) calendar. Prior to this, the Arab tribes reckoned from the "Era of the Elephants" - 570, associated with the invasion of the Ethiopian army on Mecca. The beginning of this calendar (chronology) is from Friday June 16, 622, when Muhammad (Muhammad, Mohammed, who lived in Arabia ≈570 -632) migrated (Arab. - Hijra) from Mecca to Medina. Therefore, in Muslim countries, the calendar is called the Hijri calendar (Arab. الـتـقـويم الـهـجـري‎‎, at-takwimu-l-Hijri).
French Revolution Calendar(or republican) was introduced in France on November 24, 1793 and abolished on January 1, 1806. It was used briefly again during the Paris Commune in 1871. The years are reckoned from the establishment of the first French Republic on September 22, 1792. This day became 1 Vendémière of the 1st year of the Republic (although the calendar was only introduced on November 24, 1793). Calendar of the ancient Slavs It was called Kolyada's gift - the Gift of God Kolyada. Kolyada is one of the names of the Sun. After the winter solstice on December 22, the god Kolyada is a symbol of the change in the annual cycle of the solstice and the transition of the sun from winter to summer, the victory of good forces over evil ones.
The beginning of the chronology was conducted from the date of the creation of the world in the Star Temple, that is, the signing of a peace treaty in the summer of the Star Temple according to the Krugolet (calendar) of Numbers God after the victory of the Aryans (in the modern sense - Russia) over the empire of the Great Dragon (in modern - China). The symbol of this victory is the rider who strikes Chinese dragon, is still preserved. In the original version, this is Perun slaying the dragon, and with the advent of Christianization, Perun (the rider) was called George.
Before the adoption of Christianity, time was counted according to the four seasons of the year. The beginning of the year was spring, and the most important season was probably considered summer. Therefore, the second semantic meaning of the word "summer" as a synonym for the year has come down to us from the depths of centuries. The ancient Slavs also used the lunisolar calendar, in which every 19 years they contained seven additional months. There was also a seven-day week, which was called the week. The end of the 10th century was marked by the transition in Ancient Russia to Christianity. The appearance of the Julian calendar is also associated with this event. The trade and political relations of Russia with Byzantium led to the adoption of Christianity and the Julian chronology according to the Byzantine model, but with some deviation. There the year began on September 1st. In Russia, according to ancient tradition, spring was considered the beginning of the year, and the year began on March 1. The chronology was conducted “from the creation of the world”, adopting the Byzantine version of this mythical date - 5508 BC. e. Only in 1492 AD. e. (in 7001 from the creation of the world) the beginning of the year in Russia was established on September 1. In view of the expiration of the seventh thousand years "from the creation of the world" and the religious and mystical interpretation of this period, and possibly in connection with the capture by the Turks in 1453 of Constantinople - the capital of Eastern Christianity - superstitious rumors about the coming end of the world in 7000 spread around the world . After this fatal line had been safely passed, and the superstitious people had calmed down, the Moscow Church Council immediately in September 1492 (in 7001) moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to September 1. From the decree Petra 1 dated December 20, 7208 from the creation of the world: “Now the year 1699 comes from the Nativity of Christ, and from the next Genvar (January) from the 1st day there will be a new year 1700 and a new century. From now on, count summer not from September 1, but from January 1, and not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ. The year 7208 from the "creation of the world" turned out to be the shortest and lasted only four months, while in Russia in 1699 the new year met twice - on August 31 and December 31. In 1702, the first Russian printed calendar was printed in Amsterdam with the beginning of the year on January 1 and the counting of years from the "Christmas". In the same way, with his characteristic meticulousness, Peter described in detail how to decorate the dwelling and celebrate the holiday. “Because in Russia they consider the New Year in different ways, from now on stop fooling people's heads and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of a good undertaking and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing well-being in business and prosperity in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, ride sleds from the mountains. And for adults, drunkenness and massacre should not be committed - there are enough other days for that. ”
And Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar only in 1918 - almost 350 years after Europe. An amendment of 13 days was introduced: after January 31, 1918, February 14 immediately came. But Orthodox Church still celebrates its holidays according to the Julian calendar, which is why we celebrate Christmas not on December 25, but on January 7, and from 2100, if the church does not switch to the Gregorian calendar, the difference will increase to 14 days and an Orthodox xmas automatically "transferred" to January 8th. The churches that set the calendar according to the solar cycles have gone too far. From all this, we should remember that 310 years ago the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1, and after 90 years Christmas will be celebrated a day later. In the meantime, we live and rejoice that soon there will be the most fun party- New Year, and Santa Claus will bring us a bunch of gifts. Happy New Year!

Today, the most famous chronology systems are the Julian calendar (“old”), introduced in the Roman Republic by Julius Caesar on January 1, 45 BC, and the Gregorian calendar (“new”), which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. But history also knows other calendars - some of them were used by the ancients, while others were put into use quite recently.

Mayan calendar

The Mayan calendar actually consists of three different calendars: the Long Count ( astronomical calendar), Tzolkin (divine calendar) and Haab (civil calendar). The Haab calendar had 365 days, and it was divided into 19 months: 18 months had 20 days, and 19 months had only 5 days. The Tzolkin had 20 "periods" of 13 days each. The Tzolkin was used to determine the days of Maya ceremonies and religious events. The long count was used to determine long periods of time in the "general cycle", which has 2.88 million days (about 7885 years). The ancient Maya believed that the universe was destroyed and rebuilt every 2.88 million days.

International corrected calendar

The International Corrected Calendar has 13 months, each with 28 days. Months in it go, as in a regular calendar - from January to December, and also in June-July, the 13th month is added - "Sol". According to such a calendar, Easter will always be on April 15, every Christmas will fall on Wednesday, and every year will start on Sunday. However, every month the 13th will be a Friday. The calendar was made by Moses Costworth in 1899 but was never adopted.

Egyptian calendar

The first calendar that the ancient Egyptians began to use is the lunar calendar, based on the floods of the Nile River. This calendar turned out to be very inaccurate, and an error of up to 80 days could occur in it. Therefore, the Egyptians introduced a solar calendar based on the movement of the star Sirius. The two calendars were in use at the same time, but they soon began to differ greatly, forcing the Egyptians to add an extra month to the lunar calendar every three years. But even with an additional month, the calendars did not match, so the Egyptians introduced new calendar, which had 365 days divided by 12 months. Each month had 30 days, and at the end of the year 5 extra days were added.

positivist calendar

The positivist calendar was intended to replace the Catholic calendar. It was invented in 1849 by Auguste Comte. In all of his 13 months, there were exactly 28 days, divided into four seven-day weeks. Each week of this calendar is dedicated to an outstanding personality in world history.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar was solar-lunar, that is, it was calculated based on the position of the Sun and Moon. There were 12 months and 353-355 days in a year, while a whole extra month was added in a leap year (resulting in 383-385 days in a year). A leap month was added about once every three years. Although this calendar is still used in China, it is mainly used for calculating the days of Chinese ceremonies and weddings, and the Gregorian calendar is used for everything else.

Ethiopian orthodox calendar

Ethiopia celebrated the new millennium on September 12, 2007, seven and a half years after the rest of the world. This happened because in Ethiopia they use the Coptic Orthodox calendar, which has 13 months of 30 days each. In leap years, an extra month of five or six days is added. The calendar was often used in the West until 1582, after which it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. Ethiopia did not switch to the Gregorian calendar due to excessive conservatism and religiosity in the country.

French revolutionary calendar

The French Revolutionary Calendar is also called the French Republican Calendar and was an unsuccessful attempt to "de-Christianize" France. The calendar was used in France from October 24, 1793 until January 1, 1806, when it was finally abolished. The year of the beginning of the revolution (1792) was declared the beginning of a new era. The era "from the birth of Christ" and the beginning of the year on January 1 were abolished. Instead, each year began on September 22 (the first day of the Republic). Given that the calendar was introduced in 1793, it had a 1st year, instead, the countdown immediately started from the 2nd year.

Roman calendar

The Roman calendar is a perfect example of what a calendar shouldn't look like. This chronology, sometimes referred to as the "pre-Julian calendar", was created by King Romulus during the founding of Rome. The calendar had 10 months, a total of 304 days, and an additional 61 days that were not included in any month or week. Since the months did not coincide with the seasons of the year, King Numa Pompilius added two additional months, januarius (January) and februarius (February). Subsequently, the pontiffs added additional months for their own personal purposes. Some of them were even bribed to add or reduce the length of the year. Julius Caesar later introduced the Julian calendar after he became pontiff.

Aztec calendar

The Aztec calendar was made up of two different calendars: Xiupoualli and Tonalpoualli. The regular Xi'poualli calendar had 365 days, divided into 18 months of 20 days each. Five extra days were added at the end of the year, and another 12 days were added every 52 years. The tonalpoualli ritual calendar had 20 months divided into 13 days, i.e. there were 260 days in a year. Each of these 260 days was designated by a separate symbol and was dedicated to a specific god. Both calendars coincided once every 52 years, and the Aztecs believed that the world could be destroyed at the end of each such cycle. To avert impending doom, they performed a 12-day ritual called the New Fire Festival, during which they practiced human sacrifice.