THE CALENDAR: Gregorian calendar

The gregorian calendar is th one most used nowadays. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII who introduced it in 1582. There is a leap year every four years (or more precisely, 97 leap years every 400 years). This means that the year corresponds closely with the astronomical year (365.24219 days) so that it gets just one day out of sync in every 3,300 years.

*In a leap year, February has 29 days.

Problems in Gregorian calendar

Some non-Catholic countries such as Britain refused to adopt the Gregorian calendar at first . The Julian calendar previously used in Britain was based on a solar year, the time taken for the earth to rotate around the sun. This is 365.25 days, which is fractionally too long (it is actually 365.24219 days), so the calendar steadily fell out of line with the seasons. In 1752 Britain decided to correct this day by abandoning the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian. By doing so, 3 September instanly became 14 September – and, as a result, nothing whatsoever happened in British history between 3 and 13 September 1752. Many people believed their lives would be shortened. They protested in the streets, demanding, “Give us back our 11 days!”

Comments

Names of months

The names of the months in English (as well in many other languages) come from Latin Words. January Januarius – this month was dedicated to Janus, the Roman god of doors. Janus had two faces, one looking back at the old year and the other looking forward to the new year. February Februarius – Februa was the Roman purification festival, which took place at this time of year. March Martius – from Mars, the Roman god of war. April Aprilis – from aperire, Latin for open, because plants begin to open during this month. May Maius – probably comes from Maia, the Roman goddess of growth and increase. June Junius – either from a Roman family name junius, which means young, or perhaps after the goddess Juno. July Julius – after julius Caesar. This month was na

Chinese calendar

Present-day China uses the Gregorian calendar for most purposes, but traditional festivals, such as Chinese New Year, take place according to the ancient Chinese calendar. Legend has it that this was started during the reign of Emperor Huangdi in 2637 BC, and relates to the positions of the Moon and Sun. Heavenly systems Earthly branches 1 jia 1 zi (rat) 2 yi 2 chou (ox) 3 bing 3 yin (tiger) 4 ding 4 mao (hare or rabbit) 5 wu 5 chen (dragon) 6 ji 6 si (snake) 7 geng 7 wu (horse) 8 zxin 8 wei (sheep or ram) 9 ren

Constellations

Groups of stars form patterns in the night sky, which are called constellations. There are 88 known constellations. The sumerians, a Middle Eastern civilization, probably named them, about 5,000 years ago. The largest is Hydra, the sea serpent, and the smallest is Crux Australis, the Southern Cross. Centaurus, the Centaur. Has the most stars that can be seen with the naked eye(94). Others include Aquila, the Eagle; Canis Major, the Great Dog; and Orion, the Hunter.

Snipfact: