87-481: The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar . The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium , the 20th century, and the 200th decade , and the start of the 3rd millennium , the 21st century, and the 201st decade (although the start and end points of such periods
174-614: A year 0 and instead uses the ordinal numbers 1, 2, ... both for years AD and BC. Thus the traditional time line is 2 BC, 1 BC, AD 1, and AD 2. ISO 8601 uses astronomical year numbering which includes a year 0 and negative numbers before it. Thus the ISO 8601 time line is −0001 , 0000, 0001, and 0002. The Gregorian calendar continued to employ the Julian months, which have Latinate names and irregular numbers of days : Johnny %26 Associates Too Many Requests If you report this error to
261-598: A New Year address of his own on the same day. In March 2000, Putin was elected as president in his own right. South Africa's Nelson Mandela lit a candle in his former cell at Robben Island at the stroke of midnight. Athens held a fireworks display over the Acropolis and a televised choir sang the Olympic anthem , a Byzantine anthem and the Greek national anthem . In Giza , a concert entitled The Twelve Dreams of
348-407: A closely argued, 800-page volume. He would later defend his and Lilius's work against detractors. Clavius's opinion was that the correction should take place in one move, and it was this advice that prevailed with Gregory. The second component consisted of an approximation that would provide an accurate yet simple, rule-based calendar. Lilius's formula was a 10-day correction to revert the drift since
435-733: A computation for the date of Easter that achieved the same result as Gregory's rules, without actually referring to him. Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Sweden followed in 1753. Prior to 1917, Turkey used the lunar Islamic calendar with the Hijri era for general purposes and the Julian calendar for fiscal purposes. The start of
522-528: A flame dedicated to the history of Chinese civilization . In Hong Kong, at eight minutes to midnight, film star Jackie Chan led a group of singers, and at the stroke of midnight, a fireworks display began. In the Philippines, millennium parties simultaneously began in different parts of the country. President Joseph Estrada and top government officials joined celebrations at the Rizal Park (which
609-725: A marathon 19-hour broadcast called Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000 , while the BBC in the United Kingdom headed an international 28-hour event known as 2000 Today . Rio de Janeiro held a special party led by Gal Costa at minutes to midnight. South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands became the first place in the Americas to celebrate the millennium but with no people on it, all of the British inhabitants chose to spend
696-641: A millennium song for Singapore, entitled Moments of Magic . Fireworks for the Vietnamese New Year in February were cancelled; in turn, Ho Chi Minh City organized a countdown party on 31 December at 10 pm, culminating in fireworks which began at midnight. In India ( UTC+5:30 ), on New Year's Eve, fireworks were observed in the capital New Delhi. This was overshadowed by the return of Indian Airlines Flight 814 's passengers and crew, who arrived home from Afghanistan after being held hostage for
783-428: A new Times Square Ball made of Waterford Crystal was commissioned and organizers expected a total attendance exceeding two million spectators. Times Square staged a series of live performances lasting nearly 24 hours, from 6:30 a.m. on 31 December to 6:10 a.m. on 1 January, with performances and musical styles from all over the world representing the countries that were entering the year 2000 at each hour. The ball drop
870-463: A series of concerts ( NHK 's Kōhaku Uta Gassen at NHK Hall , Johnny's Countdown Live at the Tokyo Dome ) and a fireworks display. At midnight, temple bells across Japan were rung 108 times to "dispel the evils of mankind". The Japanese heavy metal band Seikima-II played its last concert "The Doomsday" before its first breakup on 31 December. A major part of the band's fictional storyline
957-727: A week. One way the new millennium was celebrated in India was with the grand opening of the Thiruvalluvar Statue a 41 m (133 ft) stone statue in Kanyakumari , Tamil Nadu, depicting Valluvar , a Tamil speaking poet, philosopher and author of the Tirukkural , a book on morality. Both Valluvar and the Tirukkural are treated with reverence by Tamil speakers regardless of political or religious background with
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#17327811208201044-425: Is 365 + 97 / 400 days = 365.2425 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian calendar. It was instituted by papal bull Inter gravissimas dated 24 February 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar is named. The motivation for the adjustment was to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of year in which it
1131-473: Is 365.2425463 days. As the average length of a Julian year is 365.25 days, the Julian year is almost 11 minutes longer than the mean tropical year. The discrepancy results in a drift of about three days every 400 years. Lilius's proposal resulted in an average year of 365.2425 days (see Accuracy ). At the time of Gregory's reform there had already been a drift of 10 days since the Council of Nicaea, resulting in
1218-415: Is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and the early 20th century. In England , Wales , Ireland , and Britain's American colonies , there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted the start of a new year from Lady Day (25 March) to 1 January (which Scotland had done from 1600), while the second discarded
1305-423: Is the year using astronomical year numbering , that is, use 1 − (year BC) for BC years. ⌊ x ⌋ {\displaystyle \left\lfloor {x}\right\rfloor } means that if the result of the division is not an integer it is rounded down to the nearest integer. The general rule, in years which are leap years in the Julian calendar but not the Gregorian, is: Up to 28 February in
1392-563: The 2000 Summer Olympics , held a large fireworks display hosted by Eddie McGuire centering on the Harbour Bridge , with the locally famous graffito Eternity being recreated. For the first time in its history, the Sydney Opera House precinct was almost completely cordoned off from the public. Instead, tickets costing as much as A$ 2,000 each were being sold for Opera House parties. However, public transport and access
1479-869: The Battle of Agincourt is universally considered to have been fought on 25 October 1415 which is Saint Crispin 's Day. Usually, the mapping of new dates onto old dates with a start of year adjustment works well with little confusion for events that happened before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. But for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in continental western Europe and in British domains in English language histories. Events in continental western Europe are usually reported in English language histories as happening under
1566-669: The Chatham Islands ( UTC+13:45 ) there was a Māori blessing . "As they faced the Pacific Ocean, a beacon was lit and school children sang." In Auckland , a fireworks display on the Harbour made New Zealand the first industrial nation to celebrate the year 2000, being just west of the International Date Line. Fiji hosted a concert by American musician George Clinton . Sydney , the host city of
1653-555: The Council of Trent authorised Pope Paul III to reform the calendar, requiring that the date of the vernal equinox be restored to that which it held at the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and that an alteration to the calendar be designed to prevent future drift. This would allow for more consistent and accurate scheduling of the feast of Easter. In 1577, a Compendium was sent to expert mathematicians outside
1740-410: The Julian calendar , is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. The year in both calendars consists of 365 days, with a leap day being added to February in the leap years . The months and length of months in the Gregorian calendar are the same as for the Julian calendar. The only difference is that the Gregorian reform omitted a leap day in three centurial years every 400 years and left
1827-625: The Peace Tower . Fireworks were launched from the CN Tower in Toronto. Blues singer Richard "Hock" Walsh planned to have a concert with Rita Chiarelli on 31 December to celebrate the new millennium but died just hours before the concert was due to take place. In Montreal , thousands attended a Celine Dion millennium concert at Molson Centre , which concluded her Let's Talk About Love World Tour . In New York City's Times Square ,
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#17327811208201914-537: The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the consular year, which began on the day when consuls first entered office—probably 1 May before 222 BC, 15 March from 222 BC and 1 January from 153 BC. The Julian calendar, which began in 45 BC, continued to use 1 January as the first day of the new year . Even though the year used for dates changed, the civil year always displayed its months in
2001-679: The Washington Monument lit up at midnight. Washington was also the world's largest Y2K command center despite GMT being the coordinated time zone. In Havre de Grace, Maryland , a spoof of the New York ball drop using an eight-foot long, five-foot high wood-and-plastic foam lit duck instead of a ball was started to celebrate the millennium and has been done again every year since. In the Roxy Theatre in Atlanta , Georgia,
2088-554: The " River of Fire ", went along 4 miles (6 km) of the River Thames . In Cardiff , Wales, Welsh band, Manic Street Preachers held a concert at the Millennium Stadium . Named, 'Manic Millennium' it was attended by 57,000 fans and led to the release of Leaving the 20th Century . The final song A Design for Life was broadcast live worldwide. The Irish national radio and television organisation RTÉ produced
2175-473: The Catholic Church delayed February feasts after the 23rd by one day in leap years; masses celebrated according to the previous calendar still reflect this delay. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers. A calendar date is fully specified by the year (numbered according to a calendar era , in this case Anno Domini or Common Era ), the month (identified by name or number), and
2262-460: The Council of Nicaea was corrected by a deletion of 10 days. The Julian calendar day Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582 (the cycle of weekdays was not affected). A month after having decreed the reform, the pope (with a brief of 3 April 1582) granted to one Antoni Lilio the exclusive right to publish the calendar for a period of ten years. The Lunario Novo secondo la nuova riforma
2349-401: The Council of Nicaea, and the imposition of a leap day in only 97 years in 400 rather than in 1 year in 4. The proposed rule was that "years divisible by 100 would be leap years only if they were divisible by 400 as well". The 19-year cycle used for the lunar calendar required revision because the astronomical new moon was, at the time of the reform, four days before the calculated new moon. It
2436-496: The Gregorian calendar, but Britain used the Julian calendar). This coincidence encouraged UNESCO to make 23 April the World Book and Copyright Day . Astronomers avoid this ambiguity by the use of the Julian day number . For dates before the year 1, unlike the proleptic Gregorian calendar used in the international standard ISO 8601 , the traditional proleptic Gregorian calendar (like the older Julian calendar) does not have
2523-409: The Gregorian calendar. D = ⌊ Y / 100 ⌋ − ⌊ Y / 400 ⌋ − 2 , {\displaystyle D=\left\lfloor {Y/100}\right\rfloor -\left\lfloor {Y/400}\right\rfloor -2,} where D {\displaystyle D} is the secular difference and Y {\displaystyle Y}
2610-606: The Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. Confusion occurs when an event affects both. For example, William III of England set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November 1688 (Gregorian calendar) and arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November 1688 (Julian calendar). Shakespeare and Cervantes seemingly died on exactly the same date (23 April 1616), but Cervantes predeceased Shakespeare by ten days in real time (as Spain used
2697-408: The Julian calendar for religious rites and the dating of major feasts. To unambiguously specify a date during the transition period (in contemporary documents or in history texts), both notations were given , tagged as 'Old Style' or 'New Style' as appropriate. During the 20th century, most non- Western countries also adopted the calendar, at least for civil purposes . The Gregorian calendar, like
Millennium celebrations - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-520: The Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, removing 11 days from the September 1752 calendar to do so. To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used dual dating to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating. For countries such as Russia where no start of year adjustment took place, O.S. and N.S. simply indicate the Julian and Gregorian dating systems. Many Eastern Orthodox countries continue to use
2871-707: The Sun with music by Jean-Michel Jarre was held on the Pyramids . At the time, most Egyptians were observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan . In Jerusalem , and particularly at the Mount of Olives , fears that doomsday fanatics "...could try to trigger an apocalypse prompted one of Israel's biggest peacetime police operations." Paris was the focal point of celebrations in France where searchlights and 20,000 strobe lights for
2958-659: The Tirukkural considered the most important work written in Tamil. Moscow's government and the Russian national government had sponsored parties across the city. Celebrations were held at the Spasskaya Tower to ring in the new millennium. The President of Russia Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation during his annual Presidential New Year Address . For the rest of the day and into 2000, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin served as Acting President, and he gave
3045-483: The architect of the Gregorian calendar, noted that the tables agreed neither on the time when the Sun passed through the vernal equinox nor on the length of the mean tropical year. Tycho Brahe also noticed discrepancies. The Gregorian leap year rule (97 leap years in 400 years) was put forward by Petrus Pitatus of Verona in 1560. He noted that it is consistent with the tropical year of the Alfonsine tables and with
3132-468: The average calendar year 365.2425 days long, more closely approximating the 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is: Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example,
3219-406: The band Europe performed a concert to celebrate the new millennium. This was the first concert played by the band since 1992 when they went on hiatus, and they were brought back together due to a request to perform such a concert. For the first and (so far only) time, both of their lead guitarists, John Norum and Kee Marcello played together, as both of them had accepted the offer of playing with
3306-422: The band Gov't Mule played three sets for a concert at the theatre to celebrate the millennium. At the first set, during the last few minutes before 2000, the band played their song "Towering Fool" which was then followed by a brief "Countdown Jam" for the remainder of the old year. Immediately after the millennium started, the band sang a cover of King Crimson 's song " 21st Century Schizoid Man " (the first time
3393-750: The band sang the song at a concert) to welcome the 21st century. The concert was released as an album titled Mulennium though not until 2010. At the Sacsayhuamán archaeological site in Cusco, Peru 1,500 performers reenacted the Incan tradition of the Festival of the Moon. Chicago celebrated the millennium by hosting a fireworks show on Navy Pier , along with celebrations at homes and in Grant Park , as
3480-648: The band that night. The two songs performed, " Rock the Night " and " The Final Countdown ", the band's two biggest hits, had extra meaning due to the night they were sung on. In Vatican City , Pope John Paul II led a blessing in St Peter's Square. In London, attention focused around Big Ben , as well as the opening of the Millennium Dome with which Prime Minister Tony Blair , his wife Cherie, and Queen Elizabeth II attended. A huge fireworks display, called
3567-430: The calendar being converted from , add one day less or subtract one day more than the calculated value. Give February the appropriate number of days for the calendar being converted into . When subtracting days to calculate the Gregorian equivalent of 29 February (Julian), 29 February is discounted. Thus if the calculated value is −4 the Gregorian equivalent of this date is 24 February. The year used in dates during
Millennium celebrations - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-518: The change a few months later: 9 December was followed by 20 December. Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation; some Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold. For example, the British could not bring themselves to adopt the Catholic system explicitly: the Annexe to their Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 established
3741-497: The date of Easter . To reinstate the association, the reform advanced the date by 10 days: Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15 October 1582. In addition, the reform also altered the lunar cycle used by the Church to calculate the date for Easter, because astronomical new moons were occurring four days before the calculated dates. Whilst the reform introduced minor changes, the calendar continued to be fundamentally based on
3828-469: The day of the month (numbered sequentially starting from 1). Although the calendar year currently runs from 1 January to 31 December, at previous times year numbers were based on a different starting point within the calendar (see the "beginning of the year" section below). Calendar cycles repeat completely every 400 years, which equals 146,097 days. Of these 400 years, 303 are regular years of 365 days and 97 are leap years of 366 days. A mean calendar year
3915-555: The drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes . Second, in the years since the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, the excess leap days introduced by the Julian algorithm had caused the calendar to drift such that the March equinox was occurring well before its nominal 21 March date. This date was important to the Christian churches because it is fundamental to the calculation of
4002-578: The event were installed on the Eiffel Tower . They remained in operation until June 2003, when they were replaced by another installation. On 18 April 1999, Switzerland approved of a new constitution in a referendum and it came into effect on midnight 1 January. In Madrid , star-shaped balloons were set up at midnight on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol Square. In Stockholm ,
4089-538: The event. Several countries in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and hence close to the International Date Line made arguments they were the first to enter the new millennium. Variously, the Chatham Islands , New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati all laid claims to the status – by moving the dateline itself, the temporary institution of daylight saving time , and claiming the "first territory", "first land", "first inhabited land" or "first city" to see
4176-419: The fiscal year was eventually fixed at 1 March and the year number was roughly equivalent to the Hijri year (see Rumi calendar ). As the solar year is longer than the lunar year this originally entailed the use of "escape years" every so often when the number of the fiscal year would jump. From 1 March 1917 the fiscal year became Gregorian, rather than Julian. On 1 January 1926, the use of the Gregorian calendar
4263-528: The increasing divergence between the canonical date of the equinox and observed reality. Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March, which was adopted as an approximation to the March equinox. European scholars had been well aware of the calendar drift since the early medieval period. Bede , writing in the 8th century, showed that the accumulated error in his time
4350-541: The island celebrated being the first place in North America to welcome the 21st century. Meanwhile, in Bermuda, celebrations were marked as the first Caribbean nation to crossover to the new millennium reached its highest at midnight. In Ottawa , Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien presided over celebrations on Parliament Hill , which included artistic performances and a midnight fireworks display launched from
4437-455: The law of the Catholic Church in 1582, but it was not recognised by Protestant Churches , Eastern Orthodox Churches , Oriental Orthodox Churches , and a few others. Consequently, the days on which Easter and related holidays were celebrated by different Christian Churches again diverged. On 29 September 1582, Philip II of Spain decreed the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. This affected much of Roman Catholic Europe, as Philip
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#17327811208204524-407: The leap day unchanged. A leap year normally occurs every four years: the leap day, historically, was inserted by doubling 24 February – there were indeed two days dated 24 February . However, for many years it has been customary to put the extra day at the end of the month of February, adding a 29 February for the leap day. Before the 1969 revision of its General Roman Calendar ,
4611-524: The mean tropical year of Copernicus ( De revolutionibus ) and Erasmus Reinhold ( Prutenic tables ). The three mean tropical years in Babylonian sexagesimals as the excess over 365 days (the way they would have been extracted from the tables of mean longitude) were 0;14,33,9,57 (Alfonsine), 0;14,33,11,12 (Copernicus) and 0;14,33,9,24 (Reinhold). In decimal notation, these are equal to 0.24254606, 0.24255185, and 0.24254352, respectively. All values are
4698-514: The midnight celebrations back at GMT time. Argentina's celebration was centered in Ushuaia , the southernmost city in the world, with a tango performance by Julio Bocca and Eleonora Cassano , broadcast on ARTEAR ( El Trece )'s El Día del Milenio and worldwide through the BBC-led 2000 Today . In Newfoundland ( UTC−3:30 ), a concert was held that was broadcast to thousands of Canadians as
4785-462: The most solemn of forms available to the Church, the bull had no authority beyond the Catholic Church (of which he was the supreme religious authority) and the Papal States (which he personally ruled). The changes that he was proposing were changes to the civil calendar, which required adoption by the civil authorities in each country to have legal effect. The bull Inter gravissimas became
4872-475: The new year was moved to 1 September. In common usage, 1 January was regarded as New Year's Day and celebrated as such, but from the 12th century until 1751 the legal year in England began on 25 March ( Lady Day ). So, for example, the Parliamentary record lists the execution of Charles I on 30 January as occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until 24 March), although later histories adjust
4959-528: The new year. The US Navy submarine Topeka positioned itself 400 metres (1,300 ft) underwater, straddling both the International Date Line and the Equator . At Caroline Island in the mid-Pacific, renamed as "Millennium Island", the Republic of Kiribati claimed the first land to see the new millennium. In Tonga , a midnight service was held consisting of a choir recitation of Hallelujah . On
5046-524: The norm, can be identified. In other countries, the customs varied, and the start of the year moved back and forth as fashion and influence from other countries dictated various customs. Neither the papal bull nor its attached canons explicitly fix such a date, though the latter states that the " Golden number " of 1752 ends in December and a new year (and new Golden number) begins in January 1753. During
5133-419: The number of leap years in four centuries from 100 to 97, by making three out of four centurial years common instead of leap years. He also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the Moon when calculating the annual date of Easter, solving a long-standing obstacle to calendar reform. Ancient tables provided the Sun's mean longitude. The German mathematician Christopher Clavius ,
5220-451: The older Julian calendar for religious purposes. Extending the Gregorian calendar backwards to dates preceding its official introduction produces a proleptic calendar , which should be used with some caution. For ordinary purposes, the dates of events occurring prior to 15 October 1582 are generally shown as they appeared in the Julian calendar, with the year starting on 1 January, and no conversion to their Gregorian equivalents. For example,
5307-621: The order January to December from the Roman Republican period until the present. During the Middle Ages, under the influence of the Catholic Church, many Western European countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals—25 December ( Christmas ), 25 March ( Annunciation ), or Easter, while the Byzantine Empire began its year on 1 September and Russia did so on 1 March until 1492 when
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#17327811208205394-454: The period between 1582, when the first countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, and 1923, when the last European country adopted it, it was often necessary to indicate the date of some event in both the Julian calendar and in the Gregorian calendar, for example, "10/21 February 1750/51", where the dual year accounts for some countries already beginning their numbered year on 1 January while others were still using some other date. Even before 1582,
5481-512: The precision of observations towards the end of the 15th century made the question more pressing. Numerous publications over the following decades called for a calendar reform, among them two papers sent to the Vatican by the University of Salamanca in 1515 and 1578, but the project was not taken up again until the 1540s, and implemented only under Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572–1585). In 1545,
5568-429: The reform commission for comments. Some of these experts, including Giambattista Benedetti and Giuseppe Moleto , believed Easter should be computed from the true motions of the Sun and Moon, rather than using a tabular method, but these recommendations were not adopted. The reform adopted was a modification of a proposal made by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio). Lilius's proposal included reducing
5655-449: The same geocentric theory as its predecessor. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe and their overseas possessions. Over the next three centuries, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries also gradually moved to what they called the " Improved calendar ", with Greece being the last European country to adopt the calendar (for civil use only) in 1923. However, many Orthodox churches continue to use
5742-410: The same basis, for years before 1582), and the difference between Gregorian and Julian calendar dates increases by three days every four centuries (all date ranges are inclusive). The following equation gives the number of days that the Gregorian calendar is ahead of the Julian calendar, called the "secular difference" between the two calendars. A negative difference means the Julian calendar is ahead of
5829-399: The same day, it took almost five centuries before virtually all Christians achieved that objective by adopting the rules of the Church of Alexandria (see Easter for the issues which arose). Because the date of Easter is a function – the computus – of the date of the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the Catholic Church considered unacceptable
5916-415: The same to two sexagesimal places (0;14,33, equal to decimal 0.2425) and this is also the mean length of the Gregorian year. Thus Pitatus's solution would have commended itself to the astronomers. Lilius's proposals had two components. First, he proposed a correction to the length of the year. The mean tropical year is 365.24219 days long. A commonly used value in Lilius's time, from the Alfonsine tables,
6003-437: The start of the year to 1 January and record the execution as occurring in 1649. Most Western European countries changed the start of the year to 1 January before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to 1 January in 1600 (this means that 1599 was a short year). England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to 1 January in 1752 (so 1751
6090-427: The vernal equinox falling on 10 or 11 March instead of the ecclesiastically fixed date of 21 March, and if unreformed it would have drifted further. Lilius proposed that the 10-day drift should be corrected by deleting the Julian leap day on each of its ten occurrences over a period of forty years, thereby providing for a gradual return of the equinox to 21 March. Lilius's work was expanded upon by Christopher Clavius in
6177-487: The year 2000 and at the stroke of midnight, Joel sang " Auld Lang Syne ", a song traditionally sung in the western world at the stroke of midnight in the first few seconds of the new year. The concert was released on an album titled " 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert " in May 2000. A millennium celebration was held at Walt Disney World in Florida, primarily at the Epcot theme park. U.S. President Bill Clinton watched with thousands of spectators in Washington, D.C. as
6264-432: The year sometimes had to be double-dated because of the different beginnings of the year in various countries. Woolley, writing in his biography of John Dee (1527–1608/9), notes that immediately after 1582 English letter writers "customarily" used "two dates" on their letters, one OS and one NS. "Old Style" (O.S.) and "New Style" (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this
6351-435: The years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is. There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar assumed incorrectly that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception. The Gregorian reform shortened the average (calendar) year by 0.0075 days to stop
6438-701: Was a prophecy stating that they would conquer the world before breaking up in 1999, with the name of the band itself being a pun meaning "the end of the century" in Japanese. Following the conclusion of the concert at 23:59:59 on 31 December (a second before midnight), the band disbanded and could be seen disappearing into a portal of light leaving the stage. The traditional Chinese New Year did not start until 5 February of that year, however celebrations were still held in Beijing alongside fireworks and dragon dances . At midnight, Chinese paramount leader Jiang Zemin lit
6525-479: Was a short year with only 282 days). Later in 1752 in September the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies (see the section Adoption ). These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 . In some countries, an official decree or law specified that the start of the year should be 1 January. For such countries, a specific date when a "1 January year" became
6612-642: Was at the time ruler over Spain and Portugal as well as much of Italy . In these territories, as well as in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Papal States, the new calendar was implemented on the date specified by the bull, with Julian Thursday, 4 October 1582, being followed by Gregorian Friday, 15 October. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies followed somewhat later de facto because of delay in communication. The other major Catholic power of Western Europe, France, adopted
6699-460: Was available to view the fireworks on the Bridge, which included a "waterfall" effect. Adelaide 's celebrations were at their Central Business District with a special presentation before the countdown and many fireworks. Adelaide was on UTC+10:30 during daylight saving time. Brisbane 's celebrations were broadcast live on ABC (Australia) and worldwide via 2000 Today . In Tokyo, there were
6786-545: Was broadcast live during ABC 2000 Today with Peter Jennings and Dick Clark in the United States, and worldwide via 2000 Today . Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, in Madison Square Garden , Billy Joel was performing a special concert to celebrate the new millennium. Leading up to the first few moments of 2000, Joel sang a special song titled "2000 Years". After that, there was a brief countdown to
6873-764: Was broadcast on ABS-CBN ), while at the Ayala Millennium Center, Regine Velasquez sang the Philippine Millennium Theme Song, "Written in the Sand" at the top of the Peninsula Manila at about ten minutes to the Philippine midnight as part of the Philippine presentation on 2000 Today (Global Millennium Day broadcast on GMA ). In Singapore, a pop trio consisting of Fann Wong , Tanya Chua and Elsa Lin performed
6960-457: Was celebrated when it was introduced by the early Church. The error in the Julian calendar (its assumption that there are exactly 365.25 days in a year) had led to the date of the equinox according to the calendar drifting from the observed reality, and thus an error had been introduced into the calculation of the date of Easter . Although a recommendation of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 specified that all Christians should celebrate Easter on
7047-421: Was created, including souvenir postage stamps. As with every New Year's Eve, many events were timed with the stroke of midnight in the time zone of the location. There were also many events associated with the dawn on 1 January. An international television broadcast called 2000 Today was produced by a consortium of 60 broadcasters, while an alternative program Millennium Live was cancelled two days before
7134-404: Was extended to include use for general purposes and the number of the year became the same as in most other countries. This section always places the intercalary day on 29 February even though it was always obtained by doubling 24 February (the bissextum (twice sixth) or bissextile day) until the late Middle Ages . The Gregorian calendar is proleptic before 1582 (calculated backwards on
7221-533: Was more than three days. Roger Bacon in c. 1200 estimated the error at seven or eight days. Dante , writing c. 1300 , was aware of the need for calendar reform. An attempt to go forward with such a reform was undertaken by Pope Sixtus IV , who in 1475 invited Regiomontanus to the Vatican for this purpose. However, the project was interrupted by the death of Regiomontanus shortly after his arrival in Rome. The increase of astronomical knowledge and
7308-404: Was printed by Vincenzo Accolti, one of the first calendars printed in Rome after the reform, notes at the bottom that it was signed with papal authorization and by Lilio ( Con licentia delli Superiori... et permissu Ant(onii) Lilij ). The papal brief was revoked on 20 September 1582, because Antonio Lilio proved unable to keep up with the demand for copies. Although Gregory's reform was enacted in
7395-486: Was then, and continues to be, disputed ). Countries around the globe held official festivities in the weeks and months leading up to the date, such as those organised in the United States by the White House Millennium Council , and most major cities produced firework displays at midnight. Equally, many private venues, cultural and religious centres held events. and a diverse range of memorabilia
7482-412: Was to be corrected by one day every 300 or 400 years (8 times in 2500 years) along with corrections for the years that are no longer leap years (i.e. 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, etc.) In fact, a new method for computing the date of Easter was introduced. The method proposed by Lilius was revised somewhat in the final reform. When the new calendar was put in use, the error accumulated in the 13 centuries since
7569-539: Was viewed during the ABC 2000 Today broadcast. Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull Inter gravissimas issued by Pope Gregory XIII , which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar . The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make
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