THE UNALTERABLE UNIFORMITY of the WEEK
HE ARCHITECTS of the World
Calendar, which they would have
become effective as part of the new
world order, remind us that calendars
have been changed before, and always
to the betterment of world conditions
and the measurement of time.
And they are right. Calendars have
been changed before. They have been
good changes. The difference in what
has been done before and in what these
calendar reformers propose is in this:
They propose to do what has never been
done before—break the historic week.
There have been many calendars, the
Chinese, the Babylonian, the Assyrian,
the Egyptian, the Greek, the Roman, and
the Mayan. They have become more
and more accurate in proportion as they
have been based on the movements of
God’s great celestial timepiece.
The Gregorian calendar, the one
now in use in the whole civilized world,
came to us from antiquity by way of
Rome. The Roman calendar, which
legend declares was introduced by
Romulus (about 800 B. c.) had 304 days,
divided into 10 months. It was far out of
line with the solar year, having only 304
days rather than 365. Two months were
added later, bringing the number to 12,
with a total of 354 days, the equivalent
of a lunar year. Every second year an
intercalary month, alternately of 22 and
3 days, was placed between the 23d
and the 24th of February.
Because this calendar was not kept
adjusted to the actual movements of the
heavenly bodies, there was a continuous
shifting of the seasons. The result was
that by the time of Julius Caesar a reform
was imperative. Consequently, he called
to his aid an Alexandrian astronomer and
mathematician, Sosigenes, to analyze the
Roman calendar and recommend neces-
sary changes.
Sosigenes discovered that the calendar
s 80 days out of line with the seasons.
9 Caesar, by decree, put 445 days into
the year 46 B. c., and it came to be
known as “the year of confusion.” He
abolished the intercalary month of
Mercedonius and inserted 67 days be-
tween November and December. By so
doing he brought together the civil and
DeceEMBER — 1944
The Seven-day Cycle and the
Problem of Calendar Reform
By Carlyle B. Haynes
natural years. He determined that the
ordinary year should contain 365 days.
He then made provision for leap year by
adding an extra day every fourth year.
Thus the Julian calendar, based on a
year of 36514 days, was introduced by
Julius Ceesar. |
This calendar was used for 15 cen-
turies after Christ in practically the
entire civilized world. It was not, how-
ever, a very accurate calendar. It as-
sumed the length of the solar year to be
36514 days, whereas it is 11 minutes and
a few seconds less than that. This does
not seem to be a great error, but in the
course of years it accumulated. In the
beginning of the sixteenth century after
Christ, the vernal equinox, instead of
taking place on March 21, as it did in
A.D. 325, was occurring on March 11.
As long ago as the thirteenth century
astronomers began to write about the in-
accuracy of the Julian calendar. Some
of the countries of Europe desired to take
action looking toward a reform of the
calendar. But nothing was done for a
long time, because leadership and agree-
ment are necessary in order to establish
a revision of the calendar which would
bring about uniformity in all countries.
At last the sympathy and interest of the
bishop of Rome was enlisted. Under
Gregory XIII the calendar was changed.
He published a bull, dated March 1,
1582, adjusting the calendar count, so
that what would have been reckoned
Friday, the 5th of October, 1582, was
designated as Friday, the 15th of October.
The day was still Friday, but instead of
being Friday the 5th, it was Friday the
15th. There was no difference in the
month. There was no difference in the
day of the week. The difference was in
the number of the day of the month.
It was the 15th instead of the 5th.
Spain, Portugal, and Italy adopted the
Gregorian calendar at once. A little
later in the same year, 1582, France
adopted it, by calling the 10th of De-
cember the 20th. The Roman Catholic
states of Germany adopted the new cal-
endar in the year 1583, but in the Prot-
estant states of Germany the old style, or
Julian calendar, was adhered to until the
year 1700. In that year the Protestant
Low Countries, as they were called, or
the Netherlands, adopted the new cal-
endar. They were not friendly to the
papacy, and hence were slow to accept
anything which they considered as
coming from the pope.
(Continued on page 14)
The present calendar has 52 weeks, and must
borrow from another week to complete the year.
This causes the calendar to begin on a different
day every year, which is said to need a reform.
The modern calendar reformers desire to have
every year begin on a Sunday, even if they have
to disrupt the seven-day cycle to do it.
FIRST QUARTER FIRST QUARTER
SMTWTFSISMTWTFS|ISMTIWTEFES  SMTWTFS|SMTWT FS|ISMTWZTFS
2345678l678910111215 6 7 8 91012] ||8 9101n1121314/56 78 91011/34 56789
91011121314 15]13141516 17181911213 14153617 22|| ||15161718192021]12131415161718[10 11 12131415 16
16 17 18 19 20 21 22(20 21 22 2324 25261920 21222324 25 | [53 5354 5c 56 57 28] 19 20 21 22 23 24 25]17 18 19 20 21 2223
23242526272829/2728 29 26 272829 3031 23031 2627282930" 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
SECOND QUARTER SECOND QUARTER
APRIL MAY JUNE APRIL MAY JUNE
SMTWTFS|SMTWTFS|SMYWTFS SMIWTFEISMIWT FS|ISMTIWTFS)
11 123456 2 3 1234567 1234 1 2
2345678|78910111213|/4 56 7 8 910 8 91011121314[S 8 9 1011 4 6789
9 1011121314 15(14 15 16 17 18 1920111 121314 15 16 17 15161718192021[12131415161718/1011 1213141516
16 17 18 19 20 21 22] 21 22 2324 25 26 2718 1920 21 22 2324 | | 153 23 24 25 26 27 2819 20 21 22 23 24 25/17 18 19 20 21 22 23
23 24 25 26 27 28 29} 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 293031 2627 28 29 30 242526272829 30
30 q
THIRD QUARTER THIRD QUARTER
JULY AUGUST JULY
SMTWTFSISMTWTF SMYWTYFS
2345678|67 4 2i00 1234567
9101112131415/131415161718 8 210111213131 EAA RA 10
3324 36 26 39 38 29| 93122232425 33 33 24 25 26 27 28| 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
2324 5 26 27 28 29} 2728 29 30 31 222324 Egil
F I FOURTH QUARTER
| _OCTOBER _ NOVEMBER | DECEMBER
SMI WTFS, SMTITWTFSIBMTWT FS
12348567 1 2 3 4 1 2
8 91011121314 S67891011/34567839
1516 17 18 1920 21 1213141516 17 18/10 11 121314 15 16
22232425262728 19 20 21 22 23 24 25/17 18 19 20 21 22 23
| i 26 26 27282930 242526272829 30
* A Worrp Horipay, DecemBer W, the Year-
End Day breaking the weekly cycle of seven days,
follows December 30th every year in the pro-
posed World Calendar. ** A WorLp HoLipay,
June W (the Leap Year Day), another extra day
to disrupt the seven-day cycle, follows June 30th
once every four years.
PAGE 3