Various Indications for the Commencement of the New Year
July 13, 2018
Apprentice RJ
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Previous to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the year 1583, there were several possible dates for the beginning of the new year. In France, for example, the new year could begin on Easter, on December 25, or on March 25. This lack of agreement poses problems for the researcher, as March 26 could be the same year, or the preceding year, depending on the area. Also, March 25 could be a day after March 24 in one area and it could be recorded with a date that is a year and a day later in another region.
Needless to say, any dates before the conversion to the Gregorian calendar are to considered tentative by the Gentle Reader.
Leap days are added in February, during the year, and not at the end of the year, currently December 31. This fact indicates the new year should begin on March 1.
September, October, November, and December, judging by their Latin prefixes suggests the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months, indicating that January and February are the eleventh and twelfth months, thereby indicating the new year should begin on March 1.
The Orthodox liturgical year begins on September 1. If the year began on March 1, then the second half of the year begins on September 1. This is the third indication that the new year should begin on March 1. In conclusion, our current calendar indicates the intentions of the correct commencement of the new year is March 1.
The essay is written in the preferred style by the Modern: clear and concise.
We suggest that the Julian calendar is best understood as one period of 1,460 days plus one additional day, rather than four periods of 365 days plus one leap day. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar does not attempt to align to the seasons.
The cycle of 1,461 days has its origins in the heliacal rising of Sirius. The heliacal rising of Sirius varies by one day over 4,000 years in the Julian calendar, but by eight days in the Gregorian calendar.
The following table covers 4,000 years at intervals of 500 years. The heliacal rising of Sirius varies less than four days in the Julian calendar, although the date drifts 35.2 days further from the vernal equinox
While the two tables are not in agreement to the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, we infer that date in the Julian is either stable or drifts very little through the millenia. Therefore, from the two tables, we conclude that the Julian calendar was not intended to align to the seasons, but to the heliacal rising of Sirius.
The Julian calendar has not been abandoned. It is still used by the Orthodox Church, as it does not recognize, unlike the Protestants, the authority of the Pope to change “seasons and days”.
Currently, the Julian calendar is ahead of the Gregorian calendar by thirteen days. Our March 1 is February 16 in the Julian calendar. March 1 in the Julian calendar is March 14 in the Gregorian calendar, the day before the Ides of March.
Per Wikipedia, on the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.
The date of September 1 [Julian], the start of the Orthodox ecclesiastical year, corresponds to September 14 [Gregorian]. From the following table, September 14 is only two days removed from when the sun enters the sign of Virgo, the virgin. We remind that Gentle Reader that the “boundaries” of the constellations are fluid as to time and place.
In the Orthodox Church, the fixed Feast Days of the Nativity of the Theotokos occurs on the Gregorian date of September 21. The date is in the sign of Virgo and near the autumnal equinox.
Although the Julian date of Easter will drift into the summer, autumn and winter, this shift will not result in Easter overlapping with Christmas, since Christmas, and all the fixed Feast days, will move through the seasons.
The current Gregorian calendar is a an amalgamation of at least three different calendars. These calendars have various origins distinct purposes.
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The Gregorian calendar begins on January 1, and the justification of this month for the commencement of the year is that Janus is a two faced god, looking forward to the future and backwards to the past.
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In the Gregorian calendar, centuries that are not evenly divisible by four hundred are not leap years; the years 1600 and 2000 are evenly divisible by 400, so they are leap years; the years 1700, 1800, 1900 are not leap years.
The sham reasoning for the creation of the Gregorian calendar is to realign the spring equinox to March 20, as it was in the year 300 A.D. As we have demonstrated, the Julian calendar was never aligned to the solar year. The determination of the dates of the solstices and equinoxes is not a function of abstract reasoning and conclusions, but of accurate observations and calculations.
The sham reasoning for the creation of the Gregorian calendar is to realign the spring equinox to March 20, as it was in the year 300 A.D. As we have demonstrated, the Julian calendar was never aligned to the solar year. The determination of the dates of the solstices and equinoxes is not a function of abstract reasoning and conclusions, but of accurate observations and calculations.
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The four year cycle of 1,461 days that repeats indefinitely, betrays the southern origin, reasonably Egyptian, of this calendar. By the diving 1,461 days by four years, the result is 365.25 days exactly. It is impossible to determine from the 365.25 day year when the solstices and equinoxes occur. The presumption is that the four seasons are of equal length, resulting in seasons consisting of 93.3125 days exactly. Of course, no astronomer, whether ancient or modern, has observed .25 days or .3125 days. Currently, the duration of the seasons are:
Spring
Summer Autumn Winter |
92.75 days
93.65 days 89.85 days 88.99 days |
This accuracy is only possible with accurate clocks, as they are needed to determine the increasing and decreasing amount of daylight.
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The Byzantine [Orthodox] calendar begins around the autumnal equinox in the constellation of Virgo. We suggest the sign is called the Virgin in honor of the birth of Mary [September 21, Gregorian].