Even though 1992 is three years away, the answer is easy. Gigantic celebrations call for elaborate planning. So if this celebration is going to suit the occasion, the sooner we start the better. Any uncer- tainty about beginning now really questions the significance of the event. If the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas is to be just another party, it should not attract world attention.
Anniversaries are familiar happenings to most men in most societies.
In Western cultures we adhere to some very complex concepts of time which affect our sense of celebration. Our own primitive notions of time have been shared by many cultures, and these notions are essentially cyclical, based as they are on the return of the sun, the moon, and the seasons. We have divided up a day's duration into equal numbers of days into weeks, and nearly equal numbers of weeks into months. Everything is then adjusted to fit the earth's rotation and the stars' precessions. Everything is orderly in a circular sort of way.