88-659: Yennayer is the first month of the Berber calendar . The first day of Yennayer corresponds to the first day of January in the Julian Calendar , which is shifted thirteen days compared to the Gregorian calendar , thus falling on 12 January every year. The Berber calendar was created in 1980 by Ammar Negadi , a Paris-based Algerian scholar. He chose 943 BC, the year in which the Meshwesh Shoshenq I ascended to
176-685: A lunar calendar , is not suited for agriculture because it does not relate to seasonal cycles. In other parts of the Islamic world , either Iranian solar calendars , the Coptic calendar , the Rumi calendar , or other calendars based on the Julian calendar were used before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar . The current Berber calendar is a legacy of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis and
264-457: A Berber calendar. Yennayer is said to be composed of two Berber words: yan, meaning "the number one," and ayyur, meaning "month" with yennayer signifying "the first month". Yennayer has several popular names that can differ by region such as id seggas ( Moroccan Arabic : إيض سڭاس ) or haguza ( Moroccan Arabic : حاڭوزة ) in Morocco. One of the most significant aspects of Yennayer
352-407: 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
440-680: 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
528-568: A linguistic taboo , in Djerba these creatures are called imbarken , i.e. "the blessed ones", whence this period takes its name. Jamrat el Ma ( Arabic : جمرة الماء ), "embers of the sea", 27 February, is marked by a rise in sea temperature. Jamrat el Trab ( Arabic : جمرة التراب ), "land embers" in English, is the period from 6 to 10 March and known to be marked by a mixture of heavy rain and sunny weather. The term jamrat (literally 'coal')
616-634: A national holiday – a landmark policy considering how the Amazigh are marginalized in Northern Africa. A characteristic trait of this festivity, which often blurs with the Islamic Day of Ashura , is the presence, in many regions, of ritual invocations with formulas like bennayu , babiyyanu , bu-ini , etc. Such expressions, according to many scholars, may be derived from the ancient bonus annus (happy new year) wishes. A curious aspect of
704-546: A part of the cultural heritage of this people, fully integrated in the system of traditional customs related the North-African calendar. 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,
792-534: A public holiday in Algeria took place on 12 January 2018. On 3 May 2023, King Mohammed VI of Morocco declared the Berber New Year as a national public holiday in Morocco. The Berber Academy was established with the intention of recognizing Yennayer as the "Amazigh New Year," based on the longstanding tradition of North Africans celebrating the event each year. In 1980, Ammar Negadi proposed the creation of
880-425: 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
968-473: 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
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#17327764340791056-561: Is almost certainly derived from the Julian calendar, introduced in the Roman province of Africa at the time of Roman domination. The names of the months of this calendar are derived from the corresponding Latin names and traces of the Roman calendar denominations of Kalends, Nones and Ides exist: El Qabisi, an Islamic jurisconsult by Kairawan who lived in the 11th century, condemned the custom of celebrating "pagans'" festivals and cited, among traditional habits of North Africa, that of observing
1144-675: Is in reference to the warm state of the earth during this period . Like the strong winter cold, the Dog Days also last 40 days, from 12 yulyuz (25 July) to 20 ghusht (2 September). The apical moment of the period is the first of ghusht "August" (also the name awussu , widespread in Tunisia and Libya , seems to date back to Latin augustus ). On this date, particular rites are performed, which manifestly derive from pre-Islamic, and even pre-Christian, traditions. They consist, in particular, of bonfires (which in many locations take place around
1232-545: Is the 17th of (k)tuber , in which one may start ploughing his fields. In Arabic, this period is called ḥertadem , that is " Adam 's ploughing", because in that date the common ancestor of humanity is said to have begun his agricultural works. Following centuries-long contacts with the Arab-Islamic culture , the celebrations linked to the Julian calendar have been sometimes integrated into the Islamic calendar, leading to
1320-467: 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
1408-486: Is the existing opposition between two 40-day terms, one representing the allegedly coldest part of winter ("The nights", llyali ) and one the hottest period of summer ("The Dog Days ", ssmaym , awussu ). The coldest period is made up by 20 "white nights" (Berber: iḍan imellalen , Arabic: al-lyali al-biḍ ), from 12 to 31 dujamber (Gregorian dates: 25 December - 13 January), and 20 "black nights" (Berber: iḍan tiberkanin/isṭṭafen , Arabic al-lyali al-sud ), beginning on
1496-482: Is the preparation of a special meal, which is hearty and different from everyday ones. The Kabyle people of Algeria, for example, use the meat of the sacrificed animal ( asfel ) to complement couscous . In the Sous region of southern Morocco, participants enjoy dishes such as tagula , made of barley with smen and argan oil , and berkukes, a dish prepared with vegetables and pasta in the form of grains. In addition to
1584-423: 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
1672-869: 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
1760-555: 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
1848-410: 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
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#17327764340791936-613: The Julian calendar . The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make 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,
2024-540: The Qalandas ("Kalends") of January ( 1 January , i.e. the Julian New Year's Day ). The length of the year and of the individual months is the same as in the Julian calendar: three years of 365 days followed by a leap year of 366, without exceptions, and 30- and 31-day months, except for the second one that has 28 days. The only slight discrepancy lies in that the extra day in leap years is not usually added at
2112-537: 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
2200-578: The Roman province of Africa , as it is a surviving form of the Julian calendar . The latter calendar was used in Europe before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar , with month names derived from Latin. Berber populations previously used various indigenous calendars, such as that of the indigenous Guanches of the Canary Islands . However, relatively little is known of these ancient calendrical systems. The agricultural Berber calendar still in use
2288-473: 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
2376-460: 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
2464-401: 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
2552-496: 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
2640-409: 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}
2728-606: 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
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2816-408: 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
2904-520: 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
2992-459: The Yennayer celebrations concerns the date of New Year's Day. Though once this anniversary fell everywhere on 14 January, because of a likely mistake introduced by some Berber cultural associations very active in recovering customs on the verge of extinction, at present in a wide part of Algeria it is common opinion that the date of "Berber New Year's Day" is 12 January and not the 14th. Previously
3080-508: The approximate date of the rising into power of the first Libyan Pharaoh in Egypt, Shoshenq I , whom they identified as the first prominent Berber in history (he is recorded as being of Libyan origin). For example, the Gregorian year 2024 corresponds to the 2974th year of the Berber calendar. This innovation has been adopted with conviction by many supporters of the Berber culture and is now
3168-483: 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
3256-430: 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
3344-444: The celebration at the 12, two days before the traditional one, it had been explicitly signaled in the city of Oran . El Azara ( Arabic : العزارة ) is the period of the year extending, according to the Berber calendar, from 3 to 13 February and known by a climate sometimes hot, sometimes cold. Before the cold ends completely and spring begins fully, there is a period of the year that is very feared. It consists of ten days straddling
3432-518: 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
3520-497: 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
3608-469: 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
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3696-555: 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
3784-410: The end of February, but at the end of the year. This means that the beginning of the year (the first day of yennayer ) corresponds to the 14th day of January in the Gregorian calendar, which coincides with the offset accumulated during the centuries between astronomical dates and the Julian calendar. There are standard forms for the names of the Amazigh (Berber) calendar. The table below also provides
3872-430: The first day of yennayer , corresponding to the Gregorian 14 January. The first day of the year is celebrated in various ways in the different parts of North Africa. A widespread tradition is a meal with particular foods, which vary from region to region (such as a couscous with seven vegetables). In some regions, it is marked by the sacrifice of an animal (usually a chicken). In January 2018, Algeria declared Yennayer
3960-513: The first new moon after the Summer solstice ) they celebrated nine festival days for the crop. The same manuscript states (although somewhat obscurely) that graphical-pictorical records of such calendarial events ( tara ) were made on different supports, and on this basis some modern scholars identified alleged descriptions of astronomical events connected to annual cycles in a series of geometric paintings in some caves of Gran Canaria island, but
4048-419: 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
4136-533: The forms used in Morocco , Algeria , Libya and Tunisia . In addition, some of the month names in Maltese are of Berber origin, specifically January ( jannar ), February ( frar ), May ( mejju ), and August ( awwissu ), with the others deriving from Italian. Berber and Italian month names are different enough that it is possible to easily determine the source language of each Maltese month name. In addition to
4224-414: The future and change, and warmly welcome the invisible forces that Berbers believed in. Berber calendar The Berber calendar ( Berber languages : ⵜⴰⵙⵡⴰⵙⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ , romanized: taswast tamaziɣt ) is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers ( Amazigh , plural Imazighen ). The calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works. The Islamic calendar ,
4312-528: 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
4400-455: 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
4488-407: 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 ,
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#17327764340794576-451: The meal, Yennayer is also a time for exchanging wishes for prosperity and symbolizes longevity. It is often marked by other significant events such as the first hair cut for little boys, marriage under the good omen of Yennayer, and agricultural initiation rites where Berber children are sent to pick fruits and vegetables from the farm themselves. The rites performed during Yennayer are done in a symbolic manner and aim to eliminate famine, augur
4664-524: 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
4752-414: The months of furar and mars (the last five of the former and the first five of the latter), and it is characterised by strong winds. It is said that, during this term, one should suspend many activities (agricultural and artisan ), should not marry nor go out during the night, leaving instead full scope to mysterious powers, which in that period are particularly active and celebrate their weddings. Due to
4840-462: 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
4928-475: 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
5016-524: 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
5104-470: 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 ,
5192-451: 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,
5280-621: 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
5368-454: 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,
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#17327764340795456-512: 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,
5544-485: 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
5632-485: The relationships between the joyful celebration of this holiday in North Africa and the ancient New Year's Day celebrations. Arabic and Berber names of the Islamic months Not much is known about the division of time among the ancient Berbers. Some elements of a pre-Islamic, and almost certainly a pre- Roman calendar, emerge from some medieval writings, analyzed by Nico van den Boogert. Some correspondences with
5720-567: The results of these studies are for now highly speculative. The name of only one month is known in the native language, handed down as Beñesmet . It seems it was the second month of the year, corresponding to August. Such a name, in case it was made up by something like * wen "that of" + (e)smet (or (e)zmet ?), may correspond, in the list of medieval Berber month names, with the ninth and tenth months, awzimet (properly aw "baby of" + zimet "gazelle"). But data are too scarce for this hypothesis to be deepened. The traditional Berber calendar
5808-562: 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
5896-410: 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
5984-463: 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
6072-525: 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,
6160-520: The situation in the rest of North Africa, may be deduced from what is known about time computation among the Guanches of the Canary Islands . According to a 17th-century manuscript by Tomás Marín de Cubas, they computed their year, called Acano , by lunations of 29 days (suns) beginning from the new moon . It began in summer, when the sun enters in Cancer , on June 21: at the first conjunction (at
6248-505: 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
6336-540: The subdivision by months, within the traditional agricultural calendar there are other partitions, by "seasons" or by "strong periods", characterized by particular festivals and celebrations. Not all the four seasons have retained a Berber denomination: the words for spring and autumn are used almost everywhere, more sparingly the winter and, among northern Berbers, the Berber name for the autumn has been preserved only in Jebel Nafusa ( Libya ). An interesting element
6424-427: The summer solstice: a custom already condemned as Pagan by St. Augustine ), or water rituals, like those, common in the coastal towns of Tunisia and Tripolitania , that provide to dive in the seawaters for three nights, in order to preserve one's health. In these ceremonies, whole families used to enter the water, bringing with them even their pets. Though the rite has been revisited in an Islamic frame (in those nights,
6512-514: The suppression of some traditional holidays or to the creation of duplicates. The most evident example are the celebrations for the new year, which in many cases have been transferred to the first Islamic month, i.e. Muḥarram , and more precisely to the ʿĀshūrā’ , which falls on the 10th day of that month. This holiday has an important mournful meaning in the Shia Islam , but it is substantially ignored among Sunnis . Many studies have shown
6600-503: The throne of Egypt, as the first year of the Berber calendar. There is some debate about the traditional date of Yennayer, with some cultural associations advocating for its celebration on the evening of 13 January, which is widespread in Morocco , Algeria , Libya , and the Canary Islands . On 27 December 2017, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika officially recognized Yennayer as a public holiday to be celebrated on 12 January every year. The first official celebration of Yennayer as
6688-572: The traditional Tuareg calendar suggest that in antiquity there existed, with some degree of diffusion, a Berber time computation, organized on native bases. There are not enough elements to reconstruct this calendar fully, but known characteristics include many month names' appearing in couples (in the Tuareg world, even in triplets), which suggests a time division different from the present one, made up of months of about 30 days. Some further information, although difficult to specify and correlate with
6776-427: 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
6864-533: The water of the Zamzam Well , in Mecca , would spill over, and in the sea there would be beneficial sweet water waves), many call this celebration "the nights of the error". It was in fact usual that, in order to achieve fertility and prosperity, men and women copulated among the waves. Another important period for the agricultural calendar is that of the ploughing . In this context, a date considered fundamental
6952-432: 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
7040-435: 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
7128-479: 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
7216-642: 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
7304-457: 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
7392-404: 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
7480-533: 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
7568-465: Was not linked to an era with respect to which years were calculated. Where traditional ways to compute the years have been preserved (Tuareg civilization), years are not expressed with numbers but each of them has a name characterizing it. Starting from the 1960s, however, on the initiative of the Académie Berbère of Paris, some Berbers have begun computing the years starting from 950 BC,
7656-404: 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
7744-412: 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
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