Lithuanian Calendar - History

History

Ancient Baltic cosmological schemes have been found on burial urns dated from 600-200 BC. As with other Bronze Age cultures, there were megaliths associated with the summer and winter solstices; hill enclaves with solar calendars have been discovered at Birutė Mountain near Palanga, and at the Purmaliai mound near Klaipėda. A modern interpretation of the ancient solar calendar was created in 2002 at the Kretinga Museum.

The Gediminas Sceptre, discovered in 1680, indicates that during his reign the year started in April and was divided into 12 months, varying in length from 29 to 31 days. Each month began with a new moon; the weeks were nine days long. The month names on this artifact are expressed in symbols, based on natural phenomena and agricultural cycles.

The Julian calendar was used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; the Gregorian calendar was adopted by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1586, a few years after its promulgation in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. In 1800, following Lithuania's annexation by the Russian Empire, the Julian calendar again became the norm, although a part of ethnic Lithuania left of Nemunas River (Suvalkija) retained the Gregorian calendar (see Aleksotas). The Russian Revolution of 1917 re-instated the Gregorian calendar, which had been the Western European standard for over a century, in January 1918. These changes caused some confusion before their usage became familiar.