Proposals
The Gregorian calendar is currently used by most of the world. There is also an international standard describing the calendar, ISO 8601, with some differences to traditional conceptions in many cultures.
Since the last papal reform, several proposals have been offered to make the Western calendar more useful or regular. Very few reforms have gained official acceptance. The rather different decimal French Republican Calendar was one such official reform, but was abolished twelve years later by Napoleon. After World War II the newly-formed United Nations continued efforts of its predecessor, the League of Nations, to establish the proposed World Calendar but postponed the issue after a veto from the US government, which was mainly based upon concerns of religious groups about the proposed days that would be outside the seven day week cycle ("blank days") and thus disrupt having a sabbath every seven days. Independently the World Council of Churches still tries to find a common rule for the date of Easter, which might be eased by a new common calendar.
| 360 ÷ 7 = 51 3⁄7 | 360 ÷ 12 = 30 |
| 364 ÷ 7 = 52 = 4 × 13 | 364 ÷ 12 = 30 1⁄3 |
| 365 ÷ 7 = 52 1⁄7 | 365 ÷ 12 = 30 5⁄12 |
| 366 ÷ 7 = 52 2⁄7 | 366 ÷ 12 = 30 1⁄2 |
Reformers cite several problems with the Gregorian calendar:
- It is not perennial. Each year starts on a different day of the week and calendars expire every year.
- It is difficult to determine the weekday of any given day of the year or month.
- Months are not equal in length nor regularly distributed across the year, requiring mnemonics (e.g. “Thirty days hath September…”) or knuckle counting (ridges are 31, valleys are 30 except first valley is 28 or 29 in a leap year) to remember which month is 28, 29, 30 or 31 days long.
- The year’s four quarters (of three full months each) are not equal (being of 90/91, 91, 92 and 92 days respectively). Business quarters that are equal would make accounting easier.
- Its epoch (origin) is religious. The same applies to month and weekday names in many languages.
- Each month has no connection with the lunar phases.
- Solstices and equinoxes do not coincide with either the beginning of the Gregorian months, or the midpoint of the months.
It is hard to solve all these issues in just one calendar.
Most plans evolve around the solar year of little more than 365 days. This number does not divide well by seven or twelve, which are the traditional numbers of days per week and months per year respectively. The nearby numbers 360, 364 and 366 are divisible in better ways. There are also lunar centric proposals.
| Comparison of proposed solar calendar reforms (Gregorian/ISO Date equivalents) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Author | New Year's Day | Jan 1 |
Feb 2 |
Mar 3 |
Apr 4 |
May 5 |
Jun 6 |
Jul 7 |
Aug 8 |
Sep 9 |
Oct 10 |
Nov 11 |
Dec 12 |
13 | Extra calendrical days | Intercalary days | Starts at |
| Comte | Monday, Jan 1 (01.01) |
28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | Leap D. (07.00), Year Day (13.29) | Leap D. (07.00) (W27.0) | |
| Colligan | Sunday, Jan 1 |
28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | Leap week 13.1-7 moving Dec from 13 to 14 | ||
| Achelis | Sunday, Jan 1 |
31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | World Leap D. (Jun 31/ 07.00), World D. (Dec 31/ 12.31) | World Leap D. (Jun 31/ 07.00) (W27.0) | ||
| Asimov | Sunday, N. Winter Solstice, 01.01 |
91 | 91 | 91 | 91 | D-92 (04.92), B-92 (02.92) | B-92 (02.92) (W27.0) | ||||||||||
| Bromberg | Monday, Jan 1 |
28 | 35 | 28 | 28 | 35 | 28 | 28 | 35 | 28 | 28 | 35 | 28 | Dec 29–35 | |||
| McClennon | Monday, Jan 1 |
30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | * | *Newton 07.1–7, moves following months forward 1 | ||
| Cesare Emiliani | Jan 1 | 31 | 28 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | Same as Gregorian | January 1, 10000 BC | ||
| Double Week Calendar | Jan 1 | 31 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 29 | 31 | Every 292nd week is doubled | |||
| Consolidated Calendar | Jan 1 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 30 or 31 | Leap Year Day (W.52) | |||
| 3130 Calendar | Jan 1 | 31 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | February is 30 in a leap year | |||
Read more about this topic: Calendar Reform
Famous quotes containing the word proposals:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)