The Project Gutenberg eBook ofOur Calendar

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofOur CalendarThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Our CalendarAuthor: George Nichols PackerRelease date: May 23, 2011 [eBook #36197]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive.)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CALENDAR ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Our CalendarAuthor: George Nichols PackerRelease date: May 23, 2011 [eBook #36197]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive.)

Title: Our Calendar

Author: George Nichols Packer

Release date: May 23, 2011 [eBook #36197]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CALENDAR ***

OUR CALENDAR.

The Julian Calendar and Its Errors.

HOW CORRECTED BY THE GREGORIAN.

Rules For Finding the Dominical Letter,

AND THE DAY OF THE WEEK OF ANY EVENT FROM THEDAYS OF JULIUS CÆSAR 46 B. C. TO THE YEAR OFOUR LORD FOUR THOUSAND—A NEW AND EASYMETHOD OF FIXING THE DATE OF EASTER.

HEBREW CALENDAR;

SHOWING THE CORRESPONDENCE IN THE DATE OFEVENTS RECORDED IN THE BIBLE WITH OURPRESENT GREGORIAN CALENDAR.

Illustrated by Valuable Tables and Charts.

BY REV. GEORGE NICHOLS PACKER,CORNING, N. Y.

WILLIAMSPORT, PA.:FRED R. MILLER BLANK BOOK CO.1893.

TOHON. HENRY W. WILLIAMS,JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIAWHOMI HAVE FOUND A TRUE FRIEND IN POVERTY AND IN SICKNESS,ANDFROM WHOM I HAVE RECEIVED WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENTAND COMFORT DURING MANY YEARS OF ADVERSITY,AND ATWHOSE SUGGESTION THIS LITTLE VOLUME HAS BEEN WRITTEN,AND BYWHOSE ASSISTANCE IT IS NOW PUBLISHED,THISHUMBLE VOLUME IS DEDICATEDAS ATRIBUTE OF RESPECTBY THEAUTHOR.

Many years ago, while engaged in teaching, the writer of this little volume was in the habit of bringing to the attention of his pupils a few simple rules for finding the dominical letter and the day of the week of any given event within the past and the present centuries; further than this he gave the subject no special attention.

A few years ago, having occasion to learn the day of the week of certain events that were transpiring at regular intervals on the same day of the same month, but in different years, he was led to investigate the subject more thoroughly, so that he is now able to give rules for finding the dominical letter and the day of the week of any event that has transpired or will transpire, from the commencement of the Christian era to the year of our Lord 4,000, and to explain the principles on which these rules rest. When the investigations were entered upon he had no thought of writing a book; but having been laid aside from active labor by ill health, he found relief from the despondency in which sickness and poverty plunged him by pursuing the study of the calendar, its history, and the method of disposing of the fraction of a day found in the timerequired for the revolution of the Earth in its orbit about the Sun.

He became so much interested in the study of this subject that he frequently spoke of it to friends and acquaintances whom he met. On one occasion, while speaking to Hon. H. W. Williams about some of the curious results of the process by which the coincidence of the solar and the civil year is preserved, it was suggested to him that he should put the story of the calendar, its correction by Gregory, and the theory and results of intercalation, in writing. It was urged that this would give increased interest to the study, help the writer to forget his pains, and probably enable him to realize a little money from the sale of his work to meet pressing wants. Acting upon this suggestion, an effort has been made to put into this little volume some of the most interesting facts relating to the origin, condition, and practical operation of the calendar now in use; together with rules for finding the day of the week on which any given day of any month has fallen or will fall during four thousand years from the beginning of our era.

The writer does not claim absolute originality for all that appears in the following pages; on the contrary, he has made free use of all the materials that came within his reach relating to the history of the calendar and the work of its correction by Gregory. Thesematerials, together with his own calculations, he has arranged in accordance with a plan of his own devising, so that the outline and the execution of the work may be truly said to be original. Of its value the world must judge. It has been prepared in weakness of body and in suffering, which have been to some extent relieved by the mental occupation thus afforded, but which may have nevertheless left their impress on the work. But let it be read before pronouncing judgment upon it. Cicero could infer the littleness of the Hebrew God from the smallness of the territory he had given his people. To whom Kitto replies: “The interest and importance of a country arise, not from its territorial extent, but from the men who form its living soul; from its institutions bearing the impress of mind and spirit, and from the events which grow out of the character and condition of its inhabitants.” So the value of a book does not consist in the size and number of its pages, but from the knowledge that may be gained by its perusal.

The Author.

Soon after the publication of the former edition of this work, it was suggested that a chapter be added on Easter; rules for fixing its date,andalso church festivals that depended upon the date of Easter. It was suggested that this would add very much to the value of the work, if so presented as to be brought within the comprehension of ordinary minds. Knowing that the determination of Easter was an affair of considerable nicety and complication, and had had the attention of our best minds, and they had failed so to present it, that even among scholarly men, probably not one in a hundred was able to determine its date without referring to tables prepared for that purpose the author of this work felt as though he was hardly competent for the task. Nevertheless it was undertaken, and the work has been revised and enlarged by a Chapter on the Peculiarities of the Roman Calendar, another on fixing the date of events prior to the Christian era, and a third part on Easter, church festivals, and the Hebrew Calendar. In the opinion of the author, the rules for determining the date of Easter are so simplified by his new method that any person of ordinary intelligence may understand them. How well he has succeeded the public will decide.

G. N. P.

OUR CALENDAR.

PART FIRST.

DEFINITIONS. HISTORY.

DEFINITIONS.

a—A Calendar is a method of distributing time into certain periods adapted to the purposes of civil life, as hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc.

b—The only natural divisions of time are the solar day, the solar year, and the lunar month.

c—An hour is one of the subdivisions of the day into twenty-four equal parts.

d—The true solar day is the interval of time which elapses between two consecutive returns of the same terrestrial meridian to the Sun, the mean length of which is twenty-four hours.

e—The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions, a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity.

f—The lunar month is the time which elapses between two consecutive new or full moons, and was used in the Roman calendar until the time of Julius Cæsar, and consists of 29d, 12h, 44m, 2.87s.

g—The calendar month is usually employed todenote an arbitrary number of days approaching a twelfth part of a year, and has now its place in the calendar of nearly all nations.

h—The year is either astronomical or civil. The solar astronomical year is the period of time in which the Earth performs a revolution in its orbit about the sun or passes from any point of the ecliptic to the same point again, and consists of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 49.62 seconds of mean solar time.Appendix A.

i—The civil year is that which is employed in chronology, and varies among different nations, both in respect of the seasons at which it commences and of its subdivisions.

HISTORY OF THE DIVISIONS OF TIME AND THE OLD ROMAN CALENDAR.

Day—The subdivision of the day into twenty-four parts or hours has prevailed since the remotest ages, though different nations have not agreed either with respect to the epoch of its commencement or the manner of distributing the hours. Europeans in general, like the ancient Egyptians, place the commencement of the civil day at midnight; and reckon twelve morning hours from midnight to midday and twelve evening hours from midday to midnight. Astronomers, after the example of Ptolemy, regarded the day as commencingwith the Sun’s culmination, or noon, and find it most convenient for the purpose of computation to reckon through the whole twenty-four hours. Hipparchus reckoned the twenty-four hours from midnight to midnight.

The Roman day, from sunrise to sunset, and the night, from sunset to sunrise, were each divided at all seasons of the year into twelve hours, the hour being uniformly one-twelfth of the day or the night, of course, varied in length with the length of the day or night at different seasons of the year.

Week—Although the week did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the reign of Theodosius, A. D. 292, it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all Eastern countries; and as it forms neither an aliquot part of a year nor of the lunar months, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss to assign to it an origin having much semblance of probability. In the Egyptian astronomy the order of the planets, beginning with the most remote, is Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon. Now, the day being divided into twenty-four hours, each hour was consecrated to a particular planet, namely: One to Saturn, the following to Jupiter, third to Mars, and so on according to the above order; and the day received the name of the planet which presided over its first hour. If, then, the first hour of a day was consecrated to Saturn, that planet would also have the 8th, the 5th and the 22d hours; the 23d would fall to Jupiter, the 24th to Mars, and the 25th or the first hour of the second day would belong to the Sun. In like manner thefirst hour of the third day would fall to the Moon, the first hour of the fourth to Mars, of the fifth to Mercury, of the sixth to Jupiter and the seventh to Venus. The cycle being completed, the first hour of the eighth day would again return to Saturn and all the others succeed in the same order. See table on the 17th page.

It will be seen by the table, and it is also recorded by Dio Cassius, of the second Century, that the Egyptian week commenced with Saturday. On their flight from Egypt the Jews, from hatred to their ancient oppressors, made Saturday the last day of the week. It is stated that the ancient Saxons borrowed the week from some Eastern nation, and substituted the names of their own divinities for those of the gods of Greece. The names of the days are here given in Latin, Saxon and English. It will be seen that the English names of the days are derived from the Saxon.

Month—The ancient Roman year contained but ten months and is indicated by the names of the last four. September from Septem, seven; October from Octo, eight; November from Novem, nine, and December from Decem, ten; July and August were also denominated Quintilis and Sextilis, from Quintus five, and Sex, six.

Quintilis was changed to July in honor of Julius Cæsar, who was born on the 12th of that month 98 B. C. Sextilis was changed to August by the Roman Senate to flatter Augustus on his victories about 8 B. C. In the reign of Numa Pompilius, about 700 B. C., two months were added to the year, January at the beginning, and February at the end of the year. This arrangement continued till 450 B. C., when the Decemvirs (ten magistrates) changed the order, placing February after January, making March the third instead of the first month of the Roman year.

Year—If the civil year correspond with the solar the seasons of the year will always come at the same period. But if the civil year is supposed to be too long (as is the case in the Julian year) the seasons will go back proportionately; but if too short they will advance in the same proportion. Now, as the ancient Egyptians reckoned thirty days to the month invariably, and to complete the year, added five days, called supplementary days, their year consisted of 365 days.

They made use of no intercalation, and by losing one-fourth of a day every year, the commencement of the year went back one day in every period of four years, and consequently made a revolution of the seasons in 1460 years. Hence the Egyptian year was called a vague or erratic year because the first day of the year in the course of 1460 years wandered, as it were, over all the seasons. Therefore 1460 Julian years of 365¼ days each are equal to 1461 Egyptian years of 365 days each.

The ancient Roman year consisted of twelve lunar months, of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately,which equals 354 days; but a day was added to make the number odd, which was considered more fortunate, so that the year consisted of 355 days.

This differed from the solar year by ten whole days and a fraction; but to restore the coincidence, Numa ordered an additional or intercalary month to be inserted every second year between the 23d and 24th of February, consisting of twenty-two and twenty-three days alternately, so that four years contained 1465 days, and the mean length of the year was consequently 366¼ days, so that the year was then too long by one day.

As the error amounted to twenty-four days in as many years, it was ordered that every third period of eight years, instead of containing four intercalary months, two of twenty-two and two of twenty-three days, amounting in all to ninety days, should contain only three of those months of twenty-two days each, amounting to sixty-six days, thereby suppressing twenty-four days in as many years, reducing the mean length of the year to 365¼ days.

Had the intercalations been regularly made the concurrence of the solar and the civil year would have been preserved very nearly. But its regulation was left to the pontiffs, who, to prolong the term of a magistracy or hasten an annual election, would give to the intercalary month a greater or less number of days, and consequently the calendar was thrown into confusion, so that in the time of Julius Cæsar there was a discrepancy between the solar and the civil year of about three months; the winter months being carried back into autumn and the autumnal into summer.

A table of the order and the names of the planets in the Egyptian astronomy illustrating the origin of the names of the days of the week:

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CALENDAR BY JULIUS CÆSAR.

In order to put an end to the disorders arising from the negligence or ignorance of the pontiffs, Julius Cæsar, 46 B. C., abolished the use of the lunar year and the intercalary month, and regulated the civil year entirely by the Sun. With the advice and assistance of the astronomers, especially Sosigenes of Alexandria, he fixed the mean length of the year at 365¼ days, and decided that there should be three consecutive years of 365 days, and a fourth of 366.

In order to restore the vernal equinox to the 24th of March, the place it occupied in the time of Numa, two months, together consisting of 67 days, were inserted between the last day of November and the first day of December of that year. An intercalary month of 23 days had already been added to February of the same year according to the old method, so that the first Julian year commenced with the first day of January, 45 years before Christ, and 709 from the foundation of Rome, making the year A. U. C. 708 to consist of the prodigious number of 445 days, (i. e. 355 + 23 + 67 = 445). Hence it was called by some the year of confusion; Macrobius said it should be named the last year of confusion.

There was also adopted at the same time a more commodious arrangement in the distribution of the days throughout the several months. It was decided to give to January, March, May, July, September and November each thirty-one days; and the other monthsthirty, excepting February, which in common years should have but twenty-nine days, but every fourth year thirty; so that the average length of the Julian year was 365¼ days.

Augustus Cæsar interrupted this order by taking one day from February, reducing it to twenty-eight and giving it to August, that the month bearing his name should have as many days as July, which was named in honor of his great-uncle, Julius. In order that three months of thirty-one days might not come together, September and November were reduced to thirty days, and thirty-one given to October and December.

In the Julian calendar a day was added to February every fourth year, it being the shortest month, which was called the additional or intercalary day, and was inserted in the calendar between the 23d and 24th of that month. In the ancient Roman calendar the first day of every month was invariably called the calends. The 24th of February then was the 6th of the calends of March—Sexto calendas; the preceding, which was the additional or intercalary day, was called bis-sexto calendas (frombis, twice, andsextus, six), twice the sixth day. Hence the term bis-sextile as applied to every fourth year, commonly called leap-year.Appendix B.

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE JULIAN CALENDAR BY POPE GREGORY XIII.

True enough, the year in which Julius Cæsar reformed the ancient Roman calendar was the last year of confusion, and the method adopted by him a commodious one, and answered a very good purpose for a short time; but as the years rolled on and century after century had passed away, astronomers began to discover the discrepancy between the solar and the civil year; that the vernal equinox did not occupy the place it occupied in the time of Cæsar, namely, the 24th of March, but was gradually retrograding towards the beginning of the year, so that at the meeting of the Council of Nice in 325 it fell on the 21st.Appendix C.

The venerable Bede, in the 8th century, observed that these phenomena took place three or four days earlier than at the meeting of that council. Roger Bacon, in the 13th century, wrote a treatise on this subject and sent it to the Pope, setting forth the errors of the Julian calendar. The discrepancy at that time amounted to seven or eight days.

Thus the errors of the calendar continued to increase until 1582, when the vernal equinox fell on the 11th instead of the 21st of March. Gregory, perceiving that the measure (of reforming the calendar) was likely to confer great eclat on his pontificate, undertook the long desired reformation; and having found the governments of the principal Catholic states ready to adopt his views, he issued a brief in the month of March, 1582, in which he abolished the use of the ancient calendar,and substituted that which has since been received in almost all Christian countries under the name of the Gregorian calendar or New Style.

The edict of the Pope took effect in October of that year, causing the 5th to be called the 15th of that month, thus suppressing ten days and making the year 1582 to consist of only 355 days. So we see that the ten days that had been gained by incorrect computation during the past 1257 years, were deducted from 1582, restoring the concurrence of the solar and the civil year, and consequently the vernal equinox to the place it occupied in 325, namely, the 21st of March.

The Pope was promptly obeyed in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The change took place the same year in France, by calling the 10th the 20th of December. Many other Catholic countries made the change the same year, and the Catholic states of Germany the year following; but most of the Protestant countries adhered to the Old Style until after the year 1700. Among the last was Great Britain; she, after having suffered a great deal of inconvenience for nearly two hundred years by using a different date from the most of Europe, at length, by an act of Parliament, fixed on September, 1752, as the time for making the much desired change, which was done by calling the 3d of that month the 14th (as the error now amounted to eleven days), adopting at the same time the Gregorian rule of intercalation.

Russia is the only Christian country that still adheres to the Old Style, and by using a different date from the rest of Europe is now twelve days behind the true time. The discrepancy between solar and civiltime does not effect the day, for, as has already been shown, the mean length of the day is twenty-four hours, and is marked by one revolution of the earth upon its axis.

Nor does it effect the week, for the week is uniformly seven of those days. But it effects the year, the month and the day of the month.

Russia, by adhering to the Old Style, has reckoned as many days and as many weeks, and events have transpired on the same day of the week as they have with us who have adopted the New Style; as Christian nations we are observing the same day as the Sabbath.

When it was Tuesday, the 20th day of December, 1888, in Russia, it was Tuesday, the 1st day of January, 1889, in those countries which have adopted the New Style. Columbus sailed from Palos, in Spain, on Friday, August 3d, 1492, Old Style, which was Friday, August 12th, New Style. Washington was born on Friday, February 11th, 1732, Old Style, which was Friday, February 22d, New Style.

Now, the difference in styles during the 15th century is nine days; during the 16th and 17th centuries, ten days; the 18th century, eleven days, and the 19th, twelve days. In regard to the sailing of Columbus, the change is made by suppressing nine days, calling the 3d the 12th of August. In regard to the birth of Washington, the change is effected by suppressing eleven days, calling the 11th of February the 22d. As regards Russia, she could have made the change last year by calling the 20th of December, 1888, the 1st day of January, 1889, thereby suppressing twelve days, and making the year 1888 to consist of only 354 days, and themonth of December twenty days. The methods of computation, both Old and New Styles, will be explained in another chapter.

To persons unacquainted with astronomy, the difference between Old and New Styles would probably be better understood by the diagram on the 25th page. The figures represent the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun, or the real path of the Earth as seen from the Sun, in her annual or yearly revolution around the Sun in the order of the months, as marked on the ecliptic.

Attention is called to four points on the ecliptic, namely, the vernal equinox, the autumnal equinox, the winter solstice, and the summer solstice. These occur, in the order given above, on the 21st of March, the 21st of September, the 21st of December and the 21st of June. It has already been stated that if the civil year correspond with the solar, the seasons of the year will always come at the same period. Julius Cæsar found the ancient Roman year in advance of the solar; Gregory found the Julian behind the solar year; so one reforms the calendar by intercalation, the other by suppression.Appendix D.

Cæsar restored the coincidence of the solar and the civil year, but failed to retain it by allowing what probably appeared to him at the time a trifling error in his calendar. The error, which was 11 minutes and 10.38 seconds every year, was hardly perceptable for a short period, but still amounted to three days every 400 years. Hence the necessity in 1582 of reforming the reformed calendar of Julius Cæsar to restore the coincidence.Appendix E.

From the meeting of the Council of Nice, in 325, to 1582, a period of 1257 years, there was found to be an error in the Julian calendar of ten days. Now, in 1257 years the Earth performs 1257 annual and 459,109 daily revolutions, after which the vernal equinox was found to occur on the 21st of March, true or solar time; thus concurring with the vernal equinox of 325. But the erroneous Julian calendar would make the Earth perform 459,119 daily revolutions to complete the 1257 years, a discrepancy of ten days, making the vernal equinox to fall on the 11th instead of the 21st. It will be seen by the diagram that the ten days were deducted from October, in 1582, making it a short month, consisting of only twenty-one days.

The discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendar amounts to thirty days in 4000 years; three months in 12,175 years. Hence, in 12,175 years the equinoxes would take the place of the solstices, and the solstices the place of the equinoxes. In 24,350 years, the vernal equinox would take the place of the autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice the place of the summer solstice.

And in 48,700 years, according to the Julian rule of intercalation, there would be gained nearly 365¼ days, or one entire revolution of the Earth. So, to restore the concurrence of the Julian and Gregorian years, there would have to be suppressed 365¼ days, calling the 1st day of January, 48,699, the 1st day of January, 48,700.

Thus would disappear from the Julian calendar twelve months, or one whole year, it having been divided among the thousands of the preceding years.

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