The calendar is a rhythm that is designed to unite the outer universe with inner man into a 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 of Ancient Egypt or the solar-lunar calendar of Babylon with their periodically repeating cycles of religious holidays, have always pursued one important goal: to be, first of all, reliable keepers of the memory of what lay at the root of each of 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-year-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 the “elements” (“heavenly branches”): five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) , each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs, personifying the male and female principles (therefore, 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 a new era began with it - the period of reign 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 counting of years begins on 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 for a long time other eras were used, 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. At present, almost all books, magazines and newspapers published are dated Gregorian calendar, but double dating is often found: 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 greatest scientist, Professor Meghnad Saha, a special committee for the reform of the calendar was created. 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 Maya, was marked by a cataclysm of the type global 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 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 various options eras “from the creation of the world”, or “from Adam”, in which the period of time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ totaled 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, Byzantium began to use the world era 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 time immemorial a calendar was created that 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), then in order to return exactly to the same date of the Egyptian calendar, Sirius needed one more year (1460+1=1461). 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) - 8-year cycles, in which five ordinary years of 12 months were combined with three years of 13 months, became widespread. 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 Olympic Games were banned. The Romans called them "otium graecum" (Greek idleness). However, the chronology of the Olympiads was preserved for some time. Why is the 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 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 -632) migrated (Arabic - Hijra) from Mecca to Medina. Therefore, in Muslim countries the calendar is called the Hijri calendar (Arab. 
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 change annual cycle solstice and the transition of the sun from winter to summer, victory good forces over evil. 
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 the Number God after the victory of the Aryans (in modern understanding- Russia) over the empire of the Great Dragon (in modern - China). The symbol of this victory, the horseman slaying the 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 has come down to us from the depths of centuries. meaning the word "summer" as a synonym for the year. 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 Rus' to Christianity. The appearance of the Julian calendar is also associated with this event. The trade and political relations of Rus' 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 Rus', on 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 Rus' 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 spread around the world about the end of the world coming in 7000 . After this fatal line was safely passed, and superstitious people 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 Rus' in 1699 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 the 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 Orthodox Christmas will automatically " rescheduled 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! 
Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus
Belorussian State University
History department
Department of Source Studies
Direction of specialty: Records management (documentary support of management)
Test
TYPES AND TYPES OF CALENDARS
Completed by: 3rd year student
part-time reduced form of education
Nalivaiko Olga Olegovna
Lecturer: Dean of History
faculty Khodin S.N.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. TYPES OF CALENDARS AND THE PRINCIPLES OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION
CHAPTER 2. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CALENDAR SYSTEMS
Ancient Egypt calendar
ancient calendar China
Indian calendars
Calendar of Ancient Mesopotamia
Calendar Ancient Greece
Jewish calendar
Muslim calendar
Mayan calendar
Julian calendar
Gregorian calendar
French Republican calendar
World Calendar Projects
CONCLUSION
LIST OF USED LITERATURE SOURCES
INTRODUCTION
The units of time calculation given by nature - day, month and year formed the basis of the most ancient calendars.
Calendars are time counting systems based on the periodicity of natural phenomena, visibly represented by the movement of heavenly bodies. The need to create such systems first arose with the emergence of productive forms of economy in the early Neolithic. Agriculture and cattle breeding are closely connected with seasonal natural phenomena. Identical shapes economic life and common initial units of time calculation led to the formation of similar calendar systems.
The first compilers of calendars encountered great difficulties, since the units of time calculation turned out to be incommensurable: the synodic month did not consist of an equal number of days, and the astronomical year could not be divided into an equal number of months and days. This forced people to look for ways to harmonize these units, which gave rise to several calendar systems. The most common of them are: lunar, where the day is consistent with the month; lunisolar, in which the day of the month is consistent with the year; sunny when year and day agree.
CHAPTER 1. Types of calendars and principles of their construction
As mentioned above, three types of the most common calendar systems can be distinguished: lunar, lunisolar, and solar.
Lunar calendars, without taking into account the change of seasons, among many peoples of the world preceded other time counting systems. They could be used in the primitive era, when neither agriculture nor cattle breeding were developed. With the development of productive forms of economy, lunar calendars gave way to lunisolar and solar calendars, which take into account the change of seasons.
According to lunar calendars, the duration of the months is associated only with the change in the phases of the moon; each month, starting with the new moon, lasts alternately 29 and 30 days: 12 months make up a lunar year, which is 354 days. Since the synodic month was longer than the calendar month (by 44 minutes 2.9 seconds), it was required through a certain amount of years to insert one additional day into the calendar year. There are two methods by which the astronomical and calendar lunar years are brought into line. Both methods are based on the introduction of an additional day in the year of the lunar calendar. According to one of them, an eight-year period (“Turkish cycle”) was chosen, during which astronomical lunar years lagged behind simple lunar years by three days. In order to equalize the lunar calendar calendar with the lunar astronomical one, an additional day was inserted in the 2nd, 5th, 7th years of the calendar in every eight years. Another way is more accurate. He proceeds from the position that 30 simple lunar years are 11 days ahead of 30 astronomical years. To eliminate the gap, additional days were introduced in the following years of this period, called the Arabic cycle: 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th th, 26th and 29th. Since the year according to the lunar calendar lasted 354 (sometimes 355) days, its beginning was ahead of the year of the solar calendar each time by 11 days. Consequently, the beginning of the year and its parts did not coincide with the seasons, but moved systematically from one season to another.
If at some point the beginning of the year coincided with the beginning of spring, then after about 9 years it marked the beginning of winter, and after the same period it opened autumn. It was impossible to make forecasts of agricultural work according to such a calendar.
Until now, the lunar calendar has been preserved (for religious reasons) in some Muslim countries.
Solar calendars are based on the apparent annual movement of the Sun. The length of a year of twelve months is 365 or 365 1/4 days. Observations of the Sun associated with religion (the cult of the Sun) have been carried out since ancient times among many peoples of the world, but the official calculation of time according to the solar calendar was rare. The most famous is the ancient Egyptian calendar. Solar is the modern international calendar.
In many countries of antiquity there were lunisolar calendars. They took into account both the change in the phases of the moon and the annual movement of the sun. To do this, an additional (thirteenth) month was periodically introduced into the account system. Complex lunisolar calendars were used in ancient times in China, Babylonia, Judea, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Until now, it has been preserved in Israel.
CHAPTER 2. The most significant calendar systems
Ancient Egypt calendar
The life of the ancient Egyptian society was closely connected with the Nile. Of great importance to the Egyptians was the fact that the rise of the water in the lower reaches of the river always coincided with the summer solstice.
The constant repetition of these phenomena was a convenient standard for measuring time: from flood to flood, from solstice to solstice. At the turn of IV and III millennia BC. during the solstice and, consequently, the flood of the river, the first morning appearance of Sirius, his first heliactic sunrise, also took place. The first appearance of Sirius in the rays of the morning gave rise to the flood of the Nile, the future harvest, the beginning of a new agricultural year.
Arising in the 4th millennium BC, one of the oldest in the world, the Egyptian calendar belonged to the solar type. The year in it consisted of three seasons, each of which included four thirty-day months.
The calendar length of the year of 365 days (365 + 5) was quite accurate for the era of Herodotus, but differing from the tropical one by 0.25 days, it gave an error of 1 day every four years. Therefore, the original New Year (1st Thoth) slowly shifted relative to the seasons. The visible evidence of such a shift for the Egyptians was the "delay" of the first (heliactic) rising of Sirius. As the error accumulated, the calendar year began earlier and earlier, shifting to spring, winter, autumn. In 1460 tropical years (365x4=1460), or in 1461 according to the ancient Egyptian calendar, the New Year again coincided with the first appearance of Sirius and the beginning of the flood of the Nile. This period of 1460 years, called the "period of Sothis", played an important role in Egyptian chronology.
In Egypt, they knew about the discrepancy between the length of the calendar year and the movement of the Sun. In Hellenistic Egypt, an attempt was made to improve the calendar. In 1866, a slab with an inscription of Ptolemy III Euergetes, one of the kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was found in the Nile Delta. The text of this so-called Canopic Decree.
The date of this monument is 238 BC. e. It outlined the system of the high school. However, judging by the following sources, the reform of Euergetes did not take root, and only much later, in 26 BC. Augustus introduced the Julian calendar system to Egypt.
After the reform, the Egyptian calendar retained basically its structure and the names of the months, but acquired a fixed New Year (August 29 according to the Julian calendar) and leap years. Leap years were considered those years, the absolute number of which, when divided by 4, gave a remainder of three. For example, in our calendar it would be 1975, 1979, 1983, 1987, not 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984.
Counting years in Ancient Egypt originally led by the years of the reign of the pharaohs (I-XXX dynasties), and in the Hellenistic era, the “era of Nabonassar” was used, the beginning of which, according to the Julian calendar, dates back to February 26, 747 BC. e. At the end of the III century. AD Diocletian introduced dating in Egypt according to the consular year, which began on January 1, and a new "era of Diocletian", its beginning according to the Julian calendar - 284 AD. The era took root, but the beginning of the year returned again to August 29th. The era of Diocletian has survived to this day in church calendar Coptic Christians, direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians.
Chinese ancient calendar
The origins of the lunisolar Chinese calendar go back to the 3rd millennium BC. e., in the Bronze Age.
China is a classic country of agriculture, and here the close connection between nature and society, the fertility of the land and royal power is especially clearly seen. Issues of time counting were of great importance and were sometimes introduced into the rank of state policy.
Emperors of the Zhou era (XI-III centuries BC) once every five years were required to travel around the country, adhering to a strict ritual. In the spring, at the beginning of the year, the emperor and his retinue in green clothes went to the eastern part of the empire, in the summer they moved south in red clothes, in the fall, changing the color of the dress to white, they went west and completed the journey in winter, going around the northern regions of the country in black robes .
Over the next four years, the emperor annually symbolically made a similar journey in a special "hall of fate" - a kind of model of the universe. There he made a yearly circle, turning alternately facing east (spring), south (summer), west (autumn) and north (winter), thus solemnly opening the beginning of months and seasons. In the third summer month, the emperor, dressed in yellow, sat on a throne in the center of the "hall of fate", symbolizing the middle of the year.
A complex ritual was subordinated to the idea that the empire should be governed in accordance with the movement of the universe.
At the same time, good governance of society was necessary condition to maintain order in nature.
Many features of these ancient rites existed in China until the abolition of the monarchy in 1911. The Chinese calendar, associated with such traditions, is just as stable. Twelve lunar months of 29 and 30 days alternately made up a year of 354 days. Months corresponded to twelve zodiac constellations and grouped by three in each season. Months did not have names and were designated by ordinal numbers, the days within the month were counted by decades. Originally, every third and fifth year a month was added if the Sun was found to be in the same sign at the end of the month as at the beginning. Then a more precise 19-year cycle began to be applied. During each cycle, seven additional months were introduced: in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 16th and 19th years. The thirteenth month was always placed after the winter solstice, and the beginning of the year fell on the new moon in the middle of the period between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.
In the III century. BC. a seasonal calendar was used in the country, according to which the year was divided into 24 seasons, each season had a name, for example: “awakening of insects”, “earing of bread”, “cold dew”, etc.
The calendar helped the population to plan and carry out agricultural work.
Simultaneously in China and neighboring countries(Mongolia, Korea, Japan) there was a system of counting time according to 60-year cycles. The years were grouped into cycles of sixty years. The beginning of this original reckoning was conditionally considered 2397 BC.
The number of the year in the 60-year cycle was indicated by the sign of one of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each of the elements acted in two states: a tree - a plant and a tree - a building material, natural fire and hearth fire, metal in nature and metal in a product, wild land and cultivated land, flowing water and stagnant water. The elements in two qualities made up ten so-called "celestial branches": five odd and five even. At the same time, the cycle was divided into 12 periods - the so-called "earthly branches", indicated by the name of the animal: mouse, cow, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig.
To designate the year within the cycle, the signs of the heavenly and earthly branches were called: for example, the 1st year is a tree and a mouse, the 2nd is a tree and a cow, the 3rd is fire and a tiger, the 10th is water and a chicken, etc. . Tab. 1 allows you to quickly determine the position of the year within the cycle. Thus, the third year of the 60-year cycle is designated by the cyclic sign of the earth branch and is called the tiger. Under the sign of the tiger in the cycle, in addition to the third, there are also years 15, 27, 39 and 51. To indicate which of the years of the tiger in question, a specific year is also indicated by the sign of the celestial branch. In this case, the third year will be the year of "fire and tiger", the 15th "earth and tiger", the 27th "metal and tiger", etc.
To date current events, it was enough to indicate the sign of the "earth branch", that is, to name the corresponding animal. The relationship of the date to the "celestial branches" is often not indicated, as it is determined by circumstantial circumstances. The transition from one year to the next in the table is traced diagonally from top to bottom and from left to right.
To translate the dates of the modern calendar into a cyclic one, in addition to using the table, it is necessary to know which years of our chronology accounted for the beginning of 60-year cycles.
Since 1949, the international Gregorian calendar has been officially introduced in China, but in everyday life the cyclic calendar still retains its significance both in China and in a number of neighboring countries.
Indian calendars
Ethnic diversity, linguistic and political disunity of the tribes and nationalities of India led to the creation of many calendar systems, led to the existence of numerous eras. Most of the Indian calendars belonged to the lunisolar type, but there were also lunar and solar calendars.
A year lasting 365-366 days was divided into 12 months with the number of days from 29 to 32. In lunisolar systems, an additional 13th month was inserted once every three years to match the duration of the solar year.
In addition, the year was divided into 6 seasons associated with natural phenomena: spring (vasant), hot season (grishma), rainy season (varsha), autumn (sharat), winter (hemanta), cold season (shishira). The New Year was timed to coincide with various days, but most often with the points of the spring or autumn equinoxes.
On March 22, 1957, India introduced the Unified National Calendar, developed on the basis of the systems most common in the country. The years are counted according to the Saka era, the beginning of which, according to our reckoning, dates back to 78 AD. e. The beginning of the year is the day following the vernal equinox.
Leap years are defined in the same way as in the modern Gregorian calendar. The Indian year is divided into 12 months.
Calendar of Ancient Mesopotamia
Back in the III millennium BC. The priests of ancient Mesopotamia, through regular scientific observations of the starry sky, accumulated a lot of astronomical information. Already at that time, multi-storey towers - ziggurats up to 20 meters high - were built for observation at temples. To the original deified celestial bodies - the Sun, the Moon and
Venus - deified Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter soon join. It was established that all the planets keep near the "path of the Sun", that is, the ecliptic; here the first maps of the starry sky, lists of constellations, etc. were compiled.
Particular attention was paid to the moon. Not surprisingly, the first city-state calendars were lunar. However, under Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), who united Mesopotamia under the auspices of Babylon, the lunisolar calendar of the city of Ur was recognized as official. The written decrees of Hammurabi conveyed to us evidence of such transformations: “Since the year has a shortage, let the month that is now beginning be called the second ululu, and therefore Babylon is due not on the 25th of the Tashrit, but on the 25th of the second ululu ".
This method of arbitrary insertions of an additional month was kept in Babylon from the era of Hammurabi to the 6th century. BC e., when they switched to a system of periodic or cyclic calculation. At the same time, from the beginning of the VI to the end of the IV century. BC e. the addition of the 13th month was carried out regularly three times in eight years, and from the end of the 4th century. BC e. - 7 times in 19 years.
According to the Babylonian calendar, the year consisted of 12 months.
Each month consisted of 29 or 30 days. The beginning of the year was considered the day of the vernal equinox.
The Babylonians adopted the seven-day week from the Sumerians.
Years were counted from the dates of the beginning of the reign of the Babylonian (later Assyrian) kings. The operation of the Babylonian calendar spread over time to Assyria, the Persian state, and then to the Hellenistic states of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Calendar of Ancient Greece
Initially, various Greek centers had their own time counting systems, which led to considerable confusion. This was due to the independent adjustment of the calendar in each policy. There were differences in the definition of the beginning of the calendar year.
The Athenian calendar is known, which consisted of twelve lunar months, the beginning of each of which approximately coincided with neomenia. The duration of the months varied within 29-30 days, and the calendar year consisted of 354 days.
Since the true lunar year includes 354.36 days, the phases of the moon did not exactly correspond to the calendar dates to which they were attributed. Therefore, the Greeks distinguished between the calendar "new moon", that is, the first day of the month and the actual new moon.
The names of the months in Greece were in most cases associated with certain holidays and only indirectly correlated with the seasons.
The beginning of the Athenian year fell on the month of Hecatombeon (July-August), associated with the summer solstice. To align the calendar year with the solar year, the 13th (embolismic) month, the 2nd Poseideon, was inserted in special years, lasting 29-30 days.
In 432 BC Athenian astronomer Meton developed a new 19-year cycle with seven embolismic years: 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th. This order, called the "Metonic cycle", provided a fairly high accuracy. Divergence per day between solar and lunar years accumulated over 312 solar years.
Later, the cycles of Calippus and Hipparchus were developed, which further refined the lunisolar calendar. However, in practice, their amendments were almost never applied.
Up to the II century. BC e. The 13th month was added as the need arose, and sometimes for political and other reasons.
The Greeks did not know the seven-day week and counted the days within a month by decades.
The dating of the events in Athens was carried out according to the names of the archon officials. From the 4th century BC e. The chronology according to the Olympiads, which were held once every four years, became generally accepted.
The beginning of the era was considered the first Olympiad, held in the summer of 776 BC.
In the Hellenistic era in Greece, various eras were used: the era of Alexander, the era of the Seleucids, etc.
The official calendar, due to deviations from the solar year, was inconvenient for agriculture. Therefore, the Greeks often used a kind of agricultural calendar based on the apparent movements of the stars, on the change of seasons. A detailed description of such a calendar in the form of advice to the farmer was given back in the 8th century. BC e. Hellenic poet Hesiod.
Such a folk calendar was of great practical importance and was preserved along with the official account of time throughout many centuries of Greek history.
Jewish calendar
In 568 BC. e. After the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian calendar and chronology were introduced in Judea. Prior to this, the Jews had a complex system of lunar time counting. The year consisted of 12 lunar months with 29 or 30 days each. The beginning of the month was determined by the direct observation of neomenia by two persons. As soon as the crescent of the moon appeared, the population of the country was notified by the sounds of trumpets and kindling fires about the birth of a new month.
Initially, the months were designated by numerals: the second, third, fourth, etc. Only the first month, which symbolized the beginning of spring, was called Aviv, which means the month of ears.
Subsequently, the Babylonian names of the months were borrowed and a seven-day week independent of the lunar phases was established. Sunday was considered the first day of the week, and the day began at 6 pm.
The lunar year consisted of 354 days, so the official count of the moons diverged from the religious ceremonies associated simultaneously with the new moon and with the ripening of barley. The administration added an extra month to the year as needed.
The replacement of the lunar calendar by the lunar-solar one was completed only in the 5th century BC. n. e. Extra month from 499 CE e. began to be inserted into certain leap years of the 19-year cycle, familiar to us from the Greek calendar.
Years of 12 months are usually called simple, and leap years containing 13 months are called embolismic.
Religious regulations did not allow combining the beginning of the Jewish year with Sunday, Wednesday or Friday.
The Jewish chronology is based on the mythical date of the "creation of the world", which is taken as October 7, 3761 BC. This so-called "age from Adam" is officially adopted in modern Israel, although they use the Gregorian calendar.
Until the end of the III century. BC e. the year of the ancient Jews began in the spring, and then the new year was moved to autumn.
Muslim calendar
An example of a purely lunar account of time is the Muslim calendar. Before the spread of Islam, the pagans of the Asian East used calendars of the lunisolar type.
In the 7th century n. e. with the emergence of a new Muslim religion - "Islam" - for religious and political reasons, a new, purely lunar calendar was introduced.
religious dogma(The Qur'an) forbids the believers to consider a year of more than 12 lunar months.
At present, the Muslim calendar is used by Arabs, Turks, Mohammedan Hindus and some other peoples. the globe.
The calendar consists of 12 lunar months of 30 and 29 days alternately.
Because total number there were 354 days in a year, and the astronomical lunar year was 354 days 8 hours 12 minutes 36 seconds, then by last month one day was periodically added either according to the "Turkish cycle" (3 times in 8 years) or according to the "Arab cycle" (11 times in 30 years).
The Muslim calendar lunar year (simple - 354 days, leap year - 355 days) is shorter than the solar year, consisting of 365 days (leap year of 366), by about 11 days. He "overtakes" the solar calendar by about 1/33 of the year (more precisely, by 11/366). Therefore, 33 lunar years equal approximately 32 solar years.
The beginning of the year in translation into the European calendar is transitional. Therefore, in the lunar calendar there are no summer, winter or autumn months- all months are mobile relative to the seasons.
In the Muslim calendar, days are counted by seven-day weeks, and the beginning of the day is considered to be the time of sunset.
The Muslim era is called Hijra (flight). In September 622 A.D. e. The founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, fled with a group of followers from Mecca to Medina, fleeing religious persecution. For Muslims, this significant event became the starting date for a new reckoning. In 638, Caliph Omar introduced a new lunar calendar, the starting point of which was decided to be the 1st day of the first month (Muharram) of the year of Muhammad's flight. The astronomical new moon that began Muharram 622 was July 15, a Thursday in the Julian calendar; however, the visible appearance of the lunar crescent (neomenia) occurred a day later, therefore, July 16, 622 (Friday) is considered to be the starting point of the Muslim account of time.
Mayan calendar
The original time counting systems were developed by the peoples of the New World. The most famous are the calendars of the Mayan Indians, who created in the 1st millennium BC. e. original culture in Central America. The Maya made progress in astronomy related to the practical needs of agriculture.
The Maya knew the duration of the solar year, they knew how to calculate the time of the onset of eclipses of the Sun and Moon.
Questions of chronology had great importance both religious and civil life Mayan. The priests used a short 260-day year, called the tzolkin, to calculate the rites.
In addition to the short year, the Maya knew 2 types of long years:
) a year of tun lasting 360 days had a special purpose and was rarely used.
) 365-day year haab, which consisted of 18 months of 20 days.
Maya had special images for each month.
The priests knew the true duration of the solar year and believed that counting the years of haab for 60 years gives an error of 15 days. The Mayan solar calendar was adopted by the Aztecs.
In Maya time counting, four years were important: thirteen 4-year cycles made up a period of 52 years, which was convenient in that it allowed short and long years to be compared together.
Mayan dating of an event consisted of the number (or number) of the day within the 13-day week, the name of the day, the day of the month, and the name of the month.
The ancient Maya had a lunar calendar with a duration of each month of 29 or 30 days and a numerical designation of the days within the month. After six lunar months, the lunar half-year ended, then the counting began again from the 1st month.
The Mayan calendar was one of the most accurate in human history. The duration of the solar year, determined by them in antiquity, differed from that accepted in modern science by only 0.0002 and was equal to 365.2420 days. With such accuracy, the error per day accumulated only for 5000 years.
Julian calendar
The modern solar calendar, adopted in most countries of the world, goes back to the ancient Roman account of time. Information about the first Roman calendar, which arose back in the legendary period of the reign of Romulus (mid-VIII century BC), is contained in the work of Censorinus (II century AD). The calendar was based on the so-called agrarian year of 304 days. The year, consisting of ten months of different lengths, began on the first day of the first spring month. Initially, the months were denoted by ordinal numbers, but by the end of the 8th century. BC. four of them received individual names.
In the 7th century BC. calendar reform was carried out. Tradition connects her with the name of one of the semi-legendary kings of Rome, Numa Pompilius. The calendar became lunisolar. The year was extended to 355 days by adding two more months: Januarius, named after the two-faced god Janus, and Februarius, dedicated to Februus, the god of the underworld.
The unusual distribution of days over months is explained by the fact that the superstitious Romans considered even numbers to be unlucky and sought to avoid them.
A year of 355 days annually lagged behind the solar one by 10-11 days. For coordination, an additional month of marcedonius was introduced once every two years, consisting of 22-23 days.
An additional month was inserted after 23 February. The remaining 5 days of February were added at the end of the year, so that in fact marcedonius consisted of 27 or 28 days.
The appointment of an additional month was the responsibility of the priests. Since the term of office of the main elected officials was measured by the calendar year, often for political reasons, intercalations were appointed at the wrong time or not appointed at all. As a result of such abuses, the Roman account of time, up to the reform of Caesar, diverged significantly from the solar year, and attempts to regulate the calendar were based more on the will of the priests than on the laws of astronomy.
In 46 BC. e. Gaius Julius Caesar, dictator and consul, begins to introduce a new calendar. To align the months with the corresponding seasons, he had to add 90 days to the year. A group of astronomers from Alexandria, led by Sosigen, participated in the development of the new calendar.
From January 1, 45 BC. e. The solar calendar began to operate with a year duration of 365 days, called the Julian.
The new calendar adopted a year of 365 days. But since the astronomical year consisted of 365 days and 6 hours, in order to eliminate the difference, it was decided to add one day to every fourth year. For convenience, these days were assigned to years divisible by four.
Days began to be added to the shortest month - February. But for religious reasons, they did not dare to simply add them to the last February day, but tried to “hide” them between the ordinary days of this month.
Sosigene retained the name of the months, but changed their duration, establishing a certain order of alternation of long odd and short even months. After the transfer of the New Year to January, the names of a number of months (numerals) began to not correspond to their place in the calendar. This discrepancy has been preserved in our calendar.
After the death of Caesar (44 BC), some changes took place in the calendar.
New calendar was adopted by the Christian Church (at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD) and applied with various eras.
Gregorian calendar
lunar time Gregorian calendar
The Christian Church, in adopting the Julian calendar, faced a difficult task. The main holiday of the new religion - Easter - was celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, on the first Sunday after the first spring full moon. Such a full moon could only occur after the vernal equinox (March 21 according to the Julian calendar). To calculate the day of Easter, it was necessary to find an agreement between the days of the week with the dates of the solar calendar and the lunar phases. Bishop scholars had been working on this issue long before the Council of Nicaea. One of them, Eusebius of Caesarea, turned to the forgotten 19-year Metonic cycle and his proposal was approved by the Council of Nicaea.
In the Byzantine, and later in the Old Russian chronology, there was an era from the “creation of the world”, which differed from our era (the era of the “nativity of Christ”) by 5508 years. Here is the calculation serial number years in a 19-year cycle was carried out by directly dividing the date in the "creation of the world" system by 19.
In the Julian calendar, the same day of the week falls at the beginning and end of the year. In 1981, according to the Julian calendar, January 1 and December 31 are Wednesdays. The starting point for counting time by solar cycles was the "creation of the world." Therefore, the definition of the circles of the sun for years, expressed in the system from the "creation of the world", is given by direct division of the date by 28. Using the solar and lunar cycles Christian church approved the so-called "Easter limits", that is, the framework in the Julian calendar system (March 22-April 25), beyond which Easter day cannot go. Since the order of the alternation of Easter days over a number of years is determined by the golden numbers and the circles of the sun, it is possible to calculate the period after which the combinations of the numbers of the solar calendar and the lunar phases will be repeated.
However, the rules for determining Easter, approved by the Council of Nicaea, soon ceased to correspond to the Julian calendar. Due to the inaccuracy of the calendar, the spring equinox gradually shifted to earlier dates, and the Easter holiday also shifted accordingly. This happened because average duration The Julian year is 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the tropical year, resulting in an error of 1 day in 128 years.
The error of the Julian calendar was noticed long ago. There are known attempts to transform it, to make it more accurate. In the XI century. n. e. the well-known Persian poet and scholar Omar Khayyam proposed to correct the counting of time over 33-year cycles. Khayyam divided 33 years into 8 periods, of which 7 had 4 years each, and the eighth had 5 years. Each end year of the period was a leap year. According to Khayyam, in a 132-year period, leap years would fall on: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, 61, 66, 70, 74, 78 , 82, 86, 90, 94, 99, 103, 107, 111, 115, 119, 123, 127, 132 years.
As a result, 132 years turned out to be not 33 (as in the Julian calendar), but 32 leap years, and the average length of the year turned out to be very close to the true one - 365, 2424 days. With such accuracy, the error per day would accumulate only over 4500 years, therefore, this calendar was more accurate not only than the Julian, but also the Gregorian.
In 1582, under Pope Gregory XIII, the reform of the Julian calendar was carried out. The reform used the project of the Italian mathematician Luigi Lilio Garalli. The project was, firstly, to leave unshakable the decision of the Nicaean Council, and therefore return the beginning of spring to March 21, and secondly, to eliminate the possibility of the same discrepancy in the future.
The first task was solved by the prescription of the pope: after October 4, 1582, it was proposed to count the next day not on October 5, but on October 15. To accomplish the second task, it was decided every 400 years to throw out of the calendar three days that had come running. The most convenient for this were recognized the years that complete the century. The only leap years left are those whose first two digits are divisible by 4.
New calendar style ( a new style) turned out to be much more accurate than the Julian (old style). In it, the year lags behind the astronomical one by only 26 seconds, and the discrepancy by a day can occur only after 3300 years. TO early XVII V. this calendar was adopted in Catholic countries Europe, and in the XVIII century. - Protestant, in the XIX - early XX centuries. - in Japan and in a number of Orthodox countries in Europe, in the 20s of the XX century. - in Greece, Turkey, Egypt. After the victory of the Great October socialist revolution By decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 26, 1918, a new calendar was introduced in Russia.
It is currently considered international.
In the first years after the introduction of the Gregorian Reform, objections arose about new system time accounts. The French scientist, poet and publicist Joseph Scaliger spoke out against the Gregorian calendar. In 1583, he proposed to use the day, that is, the average solar day, as the main unit of account for chronological and astronomical calculations. In days, you can express any intervals of time between events recorded in different calendar systems, eras.
For such an account, Scaliger introduced the concept of a Julian period lasting 7980 years. The starting point, that is, the first day of the Julian period, the scientist proposed to consider a conditional date - January 1, 4713 BC. e.
Counting the days of the Julian period eliminates the difficulty of accurately determining the time elapsed between any events recorded within the same calendar system.
French Republican calendar
During the years of the French Revolution, an attempt was made to create a calendar free from religious influences and based on strictly scientific data. Its prototype was the work "The Almanac of Honest People", published by S. Marechal at the end of 1787.
The new calendar was developed by a commission of leading French scientists headed by Gilbert Romm and introduced by decree of the Convention on October 5, 1793.
In it, instead of the era from "the birth of Christ", a new era was established - the Republic, which began on the day of the proclamation of the Republic in France, which coincided with the day of the autumn equinox - September 22, 1792 AD. The length of the year and the number of months in the year remained unchanged. However, now each month was equal to 30 days and new names were established for them. Each month was divided into decades. Days within decades were denoted by an ordinal number.
Since there were 360 days in 12 months, 5 extra days were introduced for the equation with the astronomical year, and 6 extra days for the leap year.
During the years of the French Revolution, an attempt was made, in accordance with the metric system introduced at that time, to divide the day into 10 hours, the hour into 100 minutes, the minute into 100 seconds. However, the innovation did not catch on.
The French revolutionary calendar, which provoked resistance from the church, lasted 13 years and was canceled by Napoleon on September 9, 1805. On the day of the Paris Commune, March 18, 1871. it was restored, but with the fall of the Commune on May 28, 1871, it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar.
One of the shortcomings of the Republican calendar was the lack of a clear system for introducing leap years, as well as replacing the usual seven-day week with decades.
Currently, the calendar of the French Revolution is not used; for historians, the exact dating of the events noted in this time counting system is important.
World Calendar Projects
Currently, new calendar systems are being created and old ones are being improved. In May 1923, the New Julian calendar, proposed by the Yugoslav astronomer Milanković, was approved at the Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches. In order to reduce the discrepancy between the calendar and astronomical years, it was proposed to consider leap years not all years that are divisible by 4, but only those of the years that complete the century, in which the number of hundreds when divided by 9 gives a remainder of 2 or 6.
However, the New Julian calendar will remain virtually unchanged from the Gregorian until 2800.
The Gregorian calendar, accepted almost all over the world, fixes with sufficient accuracy the tropical year and the synodic month. But in the 19th century and XX century. its shortcomings were revealed, which complicate the work of financial and other economic ones: the unequal number of days in months and quarters, the mismatch of numbers, months and days of the week in different years, etc.
In this regard, already in the first half of the XIX century. began to create projects of such a calendar that would eliminate the noted shortcomings. In 1923, the International Committee for the Creation of a Unified World Calendar was formed, which printed more than 200 projects. Since 1953, the United Nations has dealt with this issue.
Of the many projects, two of the most optimal can be distinguished.
According to the first of them, the year is divided into 13 months, each of which has 4 weeks of 7 days, and a total of 28 days. The main disadvantage of such a calendar is the inability to divide the year into semesters and quarters.
The second project proposes a calendar in which the year consists of 12 months, divided into 4 three-month quarters of 91 days. Each quarter contains 13 weeks. The first days of the year and quarter always fall on a Sunday. Since there are 364 days in such a calendar, a day without a number is inserted in the ordinary and leap years.
Such a calendar has a number of advantages: it repeats the number of months and days from year to year, each month contains the same number of working days; it is divided into semesters and quarters.
However, a violation of the weekly count due to the presence of days without a number in the calendar will shift the holy days of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions.
CONCLUSION
primitive people already in the early stages of development, they perceived the passage of time, distinguished between the change of day and night, the seasons, the period of rains and the ripening of fruits, but they did not keep track of time, since there was no need for this. Their memory of the past did not spread beyond one or two generations. The account of time begins to appear in people only with the development of agriculture, cattle breeding, exchange and navigation.
As the working life of the people develops, more high forms industrial and economic life. There is a need to calculate long periods of time.
For agricultural tribes, it is important to take into account the time of year - the annual period, because when engaging in agriculture, it is extremely important to foresee the timing of the onset of certain agricultural work that required collective labor for its implementation. All the most important festivities of agricultural tribes were associated with agricultural work and were timed to coincide with it.
In hot countries, where the scorching rays of the sun forced to transfer daytime work to night time, it was necessary to take into account the lunar phases - the monthly period of one revolution of the moon.
The initial accounting of time had a primitive character. It was carried out according to changes in nature - the change of seasons, the floods of large rivers, the alternation of winds, etc.
In the future, the needs of economic and social life made it necessary to clarify the rough and indefinite natural year and its subdivisions. The need to study the starry sky, to study the movement of the Sun and the Moon in order to keep track of time, was recognized very early.
The first time counting systems date back to 4 - 3 thousand BC.
LIST OF USED LITERATURE SOURCES
1. Berezhko, N.G. Chronology of Russian chronology. Problems of source studies / N.G. Berezhko - 1958.
Bikerman, E. Chronology of the ancient world / E. Bikerman M. - 1975.
Ermolaev, I.P. Historical chronology / I.P. Ermolaev - Kazan, 1980.
Kamentseva, E.I. Chronology / E.I. Kamentseva - M., 1982.
Klimishin, I.A. Calendar and chronology / I.A. Klimishin - M., 1985
6. Pronshtein, A.P. Questions of theory and methodology of historical research / A.P. Pronstein, I.N. Danilevsky - M., 1986. S. 63 - 112.
Pronstein, A.P. Methods of historical source studies / A.P. Pronstein - Rostov-on-Don, 1976. S. 186 - 205.
Pronstein, A.P. The methodology for working on historical sources/ A.P. Pronshtein, A.G. Zadera - M., 1977.
Pronstein, A.P. Chronology / A.P. Pronstein, V.Ya. Kiyashko - M., 1981.
Racer, S.A. Fundamentals of textology / S.A. Racer - M., 1978. S. 73 - 82.
11. Chronology Russian history: encyclopedic reference book - M., 1994.
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For us, this is a rectangular grid with days and weeks and the beginning of the year on January 1, but for other peoples, the calendar looked different. This is what your custom calendar could look like if you were not born here and not in our time.
Calendars of different peoples of the world - from Egypt to China
- In Egypt, both lunar and solar calendars. The Egyptians began to use the lunar calendar as early as the 4th millennium BC, and the solar calendar later, from about 1700 BC. e. The year lasted 365 days, and was divided into 12 months of 30 days. But there were not four seasons, as we are used to, but three, which corresponded to the stages of sowing, harvesting and the flood season. At the end of the year there were 5 additional public holidays in honor of the children of the earth god. Interestingly, the Egyptians counted the years from the moment the new pharaoh came to the throne.
- The Chinese calendar is also called the Oriental. It is still used today to determine dates for traditional Chinese holidays. This calendar became the basis for others - Vietnamese, Japanese, Tibetan and Korean. It consists of a 60-year cyclic system that combines two circles of cycles - a twelve-year cycle of "earth branches", where each year has the name of an animal, and a ten-year cycle of "heavenly branches", after which each year belongs to one of the five elements - water. , wood, fire, metal or earth.
- Everyone remembers the mythical end of the world on December 21, 2012, right? This "important" date appeared because of the calendar of the Mayan people. In this calendar, all time was divided into cycles, or "suns". The Mayan tribes believed that by the end of each "sun" there should be a massive destruction of mankind. December 21, 2012 fell exactly at the end of the 5th cycle. The previous 4 cycles ended with earthquakes, hurricanes, "fiery" rain and floods, respectively. The sixth cycle in the calendar was empty, since the priests could not see the future after the end of the fifth "sun".
Almost "modern" calendars of the peoples of the world
- At the beginning of the revolutionary era, the French decided to make their own calendar. It was introduced in 1793, but later, in 1806, Napoleon I canceled it. In principle, the calendar did not stand out in any way - all the same 365 days, and 12 months - but 30 days each. The remaining 5 days (six for leap years) were not included in the months and had special names. A feature of this calendar was the beginning of the year on the day of the autumn equinox - that is, in each year there was a "new" New Year.
- It is impossible not to mention the Soviet revolutionary calendar! Although he did not take root, he was still quite interesting. The chronology was carried out as in the Gregorian calendar, but in the calendars themselves, the year was indicated as "NN year of the socialist revolution." There were also 12 months, 30 days each, and the days that remained were called "monthless holidays." The week consisted of 5 days, and for each layer of workers the day off fell on a different day.
Today, shortly before the new year, we would like to talk about the main calendars of the peoples of the world and the chronology systems that exist on the planet, because not everyone knows what date it is customary to celebrate this very new year, and not everyone knows what year we generally celebrate.
And there is nothing unusual that we are confused, because time is an amazing substance that cannot be touched and felt, the fourth dimension of our three-dimensional physical world. According to modern physicists - theorists, adherents of string theory, time does not exist.But we are born, grow up, grow up, grow old and go somewhere... And our only constant companions on this planet are the measures of time - seconds, minutes, hours, years. Despite the fact that our planet is not so big, we do not yet have a single calendar - unified system chronology.
The main existing systems of reckoning
And, if in one part of the earth it is now 2014, then in another it is already 2500, in the third the 8th millennium has come! In this article we want to talk about some of the existing this moment systems of chronology among various peoples of the world. And let's start with ourselves, namely with our ancestors, calendars and chronology of the Slavic peoples.
Chronology and Calendars of the Slavs
Our ancestors - the Ancient Slavs used the calendar, which is now known under the name - "Slavic Aryan" or "Vedic". It is still used by Yngliists - Old Believers, representatives of the most ancient stream of Slavic Aryans.
And it’s good that they kept it, because lately, more and more people are returning to their roots and want to study and use this valuable knowledge. Moreover, they are not outdated, but on the contrary, they provide answers to many questions that interest us today.
Slavic-Aryan calendar
The Slavic Aryan calendar was officially used in Rus' for 7208 years! And time in that calendar was measured in "Circles of Life". One circle of life was equal to 144 years (as the year used to be called).In one circle of life, our planet, which the Ancient Slavs called Mirgard, made a revolution around the center of the Universe, visiting all 16 "houses" in succession - so many constellations were distinguished by the Slavs, in contrast to the Chinese stellar calendar with its only 12 Constellation Houses.
What is the year of the Slavs now?
Now in Slavyano Aryan calendar we live in 7523 years. The years are officially counted from the “Creation of the World in the Star Temple” - most sources say that there is a direct, rather than allegorical meaning here - meaning the signing of a peace treaty, between our Ancestors - representatives of the “Power of the Great Race” (Russia, Aryans) and “ Empire of the Great Dragon" (Modern China).
And the famous icon depicting, as they say, George the Victorious, killing the Dragon, actually illustrates those ancient events. Since China symbolizes a dragon or a snake.
What were the months, weeks and hours of the Slavs
Slavic-Aryan calendar calculated on the basis of the 16-digit system of calculus.
Respectively, The day of the Slavs consisted of 16 hours. They started in the evening. Each hour had its own name and was approximately equal to 90 minutes.
The month consisted of 40 days, and was called forty years.. (A reflection of this is the tradition that has survived to this day to celebrate the 40th day with the remembrance of the departed, which we have already written about separately, and 9 days exactly the same as it was Slavic week).
In addition, nine forties (months) - a whole summer (year) - is full cycle circulation of our Earth around Yarila (Sun). Summer consisted of three seasons, three forties each - Spring, Winter, Autumn. Each sorokovnik had its own name and these names were very poetic and accurate:
"Fortieth White Radiance"
"Fortieth Awakening of Nature"
"Fortieth of Sowing and Naming".
Weeks in the calendar of our ancestors of the Slavs, as I said, consisted of nine days and were named after the planets of our solar system. There were even smaller parts of the measurement of time: an hour, a fraction, an instant, a moment, a sig.
To understand and admire the wisdom of our ancestors, I will say that - 1 sig is approximately equal to 30 oscillations of the electromagnetic wave of the cesium atom, taken as the basis for modern atomic clocks, and such a small fraction still does not exist in more than one clock in the world.
This fact alone shows how distorted the truth is by those who seek to show our ancient ancestors as illiterate savages!
Gregorian and Julian calendars
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar was introduced by Gaius Julius Caesar himself, the great commander and ruler of Rome. And it happened in 45 BC. With the introduction of Christianity into Russia by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the Grand Duke, approximately in the year 1000, the Julian calendar also began to spread widely among the Slavic peoples and was used simultaneously with the Vedic.
All holidays Orthodox Church calculated from that time to the present day church calendar- The Julian calendar.
Moreover, modern astronomers have recognized that the Julian calendar (old style) is actually more accurate from an astronomical point of view than the widely used Gregorian (new style), since it lags less behind astronomical (natural) cycles.
Gregorian calendar. New and modern chronology
So, in the summer of 7208, Peter the Great issues a Decree, according to which, on the territory of Rus', all previously existing calendars are abolished and the new chronology will start from the Nativity of Christ, then the year was 1700.
Why New Year's Day January 1st
The beginning of the year began to be celebrated on January 1, instead of the magical day of the autumn equinox, as was the case with the Slavs. This calendar is called the Gregorian calendar in honor of Pope Gregory 13, and is valid both in Europe and in the territories of countries former USSR and in many other countries of the world, for the convenience of people.
Have you ever wondered why the beginning of the year is celebrated on January 1st? On December 24, the entire Catholic world celebrates Christmas - the birthday of the baby Jesus. It is from this day that the current calendar begins.
Jesus was a Jew, and on the 8th day the Jews celebrate the rite of circumcision of male babies. This day was the transition from the old year to the new year! It is amazing that every year, gathering with loved ones for New Year's table, we celebrate the Jewish rite of circumcision of the baby Jesus! But what is interesting is that in fact the Jews themselves have and widely use their own Jewish calendar.
Hebrew or Judaic calendar
The chronology according to the Jewish calendar is conducted from the creation of the world by the Lord. Which, according to the beliefs of the Jews, took place on October 7, 3761 BC - which is called Era from Adam.The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. That is, both celestial bodies influence the length of the year. Average year approximately equal to Gregorian, but sometimes the values \u200b\u200bcan fluctuate, and the difference is 30-40 days.
Another interesting point- The Jewish calendar does not consist of numbers, but the letters of the alphabet are used. And it is read from right to left, like all books in Hebrew. Each month of the Jewish calendar has a zodiac sign.
Since ancient times, it has been customary to designate the 12 signs of the zodiac with the symbols of its constellations. Months are counted from spring, but New Year begins in autumn and is called Rosh Hashanah. In the evening, when three stars are visible in the sky, a new day begins.
Islamic calendar
In most countries whose dominant religion is Islam, there is a calendar - Islamic or Hijri. It is used both for religious purposes and as the main determinant of time.
Islamic is pure lunar calendar. The beginning of the month is a new moon, the week also consists of seven days, but the day off is Friday, there are only 12 months in a year.
The Muslim calendar is based on the year when the Prophet Muhammad made the Hajj from Mecca to Medina. (It was July 16, 622 Gregorian).
What year is it in the islamic calendar
Therefore, the Muslim New Year begins on the 1st of the month of Muharram. October 26, 2014 according to the Gregorian calendar 1436 Islamic calendar.
Islamic New Year is not a holiday in our understanding. On the eve of the evening, it is best for the faithful to fast, and on spend as much time as possible in prayers and good deeds in the name of the Almighty.Oriental or Chinese calendar
In most countries of the Asian world, despite the official operation of the Gregorian calendar, the majority of the population uses the chronology system created several thousand years ago (approximately 3 thousand years BC) during the reign of Emperor Huang Di.
And its distinctive feature is that it is both solar-lunar. That is, all months begin with the beginning of a new moon.
When is Chinese New Year 2015?
New Year according to the Eastern calendar is celebrated on The second new moon after the winter solstice is between January 21st and February 21st.. And the New Year is a big and noisy holiday, with bright lights, firecrackers, festive processions and a lot of noise.
The Chinese calendar system is based on the astronomical cycles of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The 60-year cycle includes a 12-year Jupiter cycle and a 30-year Saturn cycle.
The ancient Asians and the creators of this chronology system believed that the normal movement of Jupiter brings happiness, goodness and virtue.
They divided the path of Jupiter into twelve equal parts and gave them the name of a certain animal, thus the peoples of Asia created solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle.
There is a legend according to which, when the Buddha decided to celebrate the first New Year, he invited all the animals living on earth. However, only 12 came to the holiday. Then the Buddha, as a gift, decided to give their names to the years, so that every person born in the year of a certain animal acquires the character traits of this animal, both good and bad.
For example, now, December 11, 2014, it's a year Blue Wooden Horse, a c On February 19, 2015, the Year of the Blue Wood Goat will begin..
Thai calendar
When travelers first come to the countries of the south - East Asia. They see with amazement that the term on the packaging of goods has long exceeded the middle of the third millennium.
What year is it in Thailand?
This is true, in the Kingdom of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and some other countries in 2015 will come - the year 2558! The reckoning in these countries and among many Buddhists is from the day of Buddha Shakyamuni's departure to nirvana. Welcome to the future!
Moreover, almost every world religion I created my calendar, from the events that people wanted to perpetuate. So, for example, representatives of a fairly common religion at the present time - the Baha'is - created their own calendar.
Baha'i calendar
Baha'i calendar in given time synchronized with Gregorian for convenience. It was originally introduced by the Báb. Navruz - the first day of the New Year is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox (March 20-22).
The Baha'i calendar is based on solar year, which includes 365 days, 5 hours and 50 additional minutes. In the Baha'i calendar, a year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i.e. 361 days in total) with the addition of four (five in a leap year) days.
Celtic calendar (Irish)
Used for a long time in the North - Scandinavian countries namely the Irish calendar, as well as in modern Ireland. The year was divided into four seasons. There are 13 months and one day in a year. Months are synchronized by Lunar cycle. The names of the months correspond to the vowels of Ogham, the Celtic tree alphabet.
That is, this is the famous Druid calendar - a very complex system where the calculation of time takes into account both lunar and solar cycles.
Segments of time, approximately equal to our months, were given the names of trees. The biggest holidays were the days of equinox and solstice. However, about the Celtic calendar, modern researchers are hotly debating. Many scholars believe that the information about the Druid Calendar is based on a misconception by several authors whose writings have become too widely circulated.
We do not undertake to judge, we just want to acquaint the reader with some of the existing or existing systems of chronology.
In an article devoted to world chronology systems, it is impossible to keep silent about the famous "Mayan Calendar".
Mayan calendar
Popularization of knowledge about Indian tribes Maya we owe, not in last turn, mystic and novelist Frank Waters - the author of many novels and the ancient Mayan civilizations - the inhabitants of Central America who have gone into centuries.
The main book about the Mayan calendar, which also touches on the predictions of the ancient Mayan astrologers, was the "Book of the Hopi". An equally important role was played by “Mysticism of Mexico: The Coming of the Sixth Age of Consciousness” - this is an unusual mixture of Mayan and Aztec philosophy, where the author suggested that the end of the Mayan calendar will be the backdrop for the transformation of the spiritual consciousness of people around the world.
However, people have chosen to simplify the information presented in the book, perhaps for the sake of sensation, perhaps due to misunderstanding. And so the legend was born, according to which the Mayan Indians predicted the end of the world in 2012, and the Mayan calendar ended on this date.
On the contrary, scientists, researchers of this ancient artifact, say that the Mayan calendar has not yet been deciphered! The information contained in it may not even belong to the Mayan civilization, but is much older. And scientists all over the world are working on the code of this calendar.
Almost any calendar is a mathematical system, Russian mathematician Vladimir Pakhomov, published a book: “ The calendar is a coded message”, which simply stirred up public opinion.
The fact is that the author, with the help of knowledge of mathematical laws, managed to present the calendar as a numerical mathematical matrix. With the help of which you can "decipher" the messages contained in ancient calendars. The scientist is sure that these messages hide the knowledge that was saved for us by our ancient ancestors who came from distant planets.
But whether it is true or not, today we will not tell you, since this is a separate and very Long story, which we will gradually talk about on our learning and self-development portal over time. And today we say goodbye to you, we wish you a good New Year, no matter what calendar and chronology system you do it, and next time we will tell you how it is customary to celebrate the New Year among other peoples of the world.
We are used to the fact that the calendar that is used today is the most accurate and convenient version of the chronology. After all, he uses most of world, and we tie all events only to its designations. But this system was put into use only in the sixteenth century. And Pope Gregory XIII is responsible for the current calendar. It was during his reign that the style of calculating years, called the Gregorian, was introduced.
Official calendar - Gregorian
Before him, people tried to coordinate the change of seasons and the length of sunny days among themselves. In addition, there was a certain difficulty in reconciling the various calendars with each other, since in every corner of the world time was calculated in its own way.
For example, the fact is eloquent that when the Julian calendar was adopted in Russia, it was decided to consider the beginning of the year March 1, while in the original it was September 1. Moreover, although this calendar was proposed by Julius Caesar as early as 45 BC, in Russia it began to function only in 988 with the introduction of Christianity. What is the calendar in Russia now? The same as in the whole world - Gregorian.
And although today the Gregorian calendar is considered the most convenient and most optimal, it also has a number of disadvantages. For example, a leap year is not necessarily one in four. At the time when the calendar was kept, it was decided not to count leap years, which end in two zeros and hundreds are not multiples of four. So it was easier to adjust the number of days to real time. It is also considered a disadvantage that each year starts on a different day of the week (although this minus is rather doubtful).
Due to this, last couple For centuries, scientists have been trying to find an alternative to the Gregorian calendar. And, although there were enough proposals, the only true and acceptable one was not received.
Which calendar is better: solar or lunar
In order to more fully answer the question of what kind of calendars exist, it is worth giving their general classification. All calendars that are known to mankind can be divided into three general categories. These are solar, lunar and solar-lunar.
The solar calendar is tied to full turn earth around the sun - that is, to the so-called tropical year. This means that a complete change of seasons must take place during the mentioned cycle. The official Gregorian calendar is solar.
The lunar calendar is tied to the lunar month. That is, it is based on the change in the phases of the moon, visible from the same point. Usually, the length of the lunar month fluctuates, and is a fractional number of days. This has to be compensated by adding a day.
The solar-lunar calendar takes into account both the tropical year and the lunar month. It takes into account the number of days in a month, depends on the alternation of the phases of the moon. The number of lunar months that "fit" in a tropical year also changes.
Every nation has its own calendar
Sometimes people cannot switch to the generally accepted calendar, considering their own to be the most correct. What are the calendars in the world? For example, in Israel, along with the official Gregorian calendar, the Jewish one is used. The Israeli people celebrate the holidays according to their calendar and even write the corresponding dates in official documents. This calendar also went through a period of formation, and in different years was characterized by different features.
In Japan in the nineteenth century, the Gregorian calendar was officially introduced. However, traditional Japanese remained, and its system of counting years, as well as in Israel, is used by the people.
The most famous calendar that is not currently in use is perhaps the Mayan calendar. This ancient people he managed to compose his system of chronology in such a way that the echoes of his efforts reached modern people. After all, the end of the world that we experienced in 2012 was mistakenly “read” and predicted thanks to this calendar.
To answer the question of what kind of calendars are, one article is not enough. We did not mention the Armenian calendar, Irish, Soviet, Ethiopian. Each of them is special and interesting for many facts, and not just the name and the period of calculation.
