Delaware journal., 1828-12-12
MISDl&lhlLAN
ON THE CALENDAR AND ITS SUCCESSIVE
REFORMS.

ted in the Calendar, are composed OF days, weeks
months, and years. Inc modes OF determining
these divisions have been various amongst the ma
tons of antiquity, and there are stil variations IN
these modes in the modern world,
The manner of reckoning the days by the an.
cent Jews and which subsists amongst the people
at the present time, is, to commence the oay a.,
certain hour of the evening, and to finish 1t on the
next evening at the same hour. Thus their saDoath
begins on the afternoon Of Friday, and is compile
ted on the afternoon of Saturday. The roman "a
tholc church also commences its festivals IN the
evening; and this custom is retained amongst our
selves In some of our popular observances, SUCH as
the eve of ST. John, and Christmas eve.
The civil day now commences at ~ O'Clock at
midnight. and lasts till the same hour Of the follow
inc night. The civil day is distinguished from the
astronomical day, which begins at noon and Is coun-
ted up to "a hours, terminating at the succeeding
noon. This mode of reckoning the day ls that used
in the Nautical Almanac, and it sometimes leads
to mistakes with persons not familiar with TINS man
ner of computation little consideration VIII OBJ
viate the difficulty Thus, January 10, fifteen hours
in astronomical time, is January II, three IN the
morning, civil time. In France, and In most OF the'
states of Europe as with u.s. the hours are counted
up to s, from midnight till noun, and from noon tlit
midnight In parts Of Italy, and OF Germany, the
day is held to commence about sunset, ana INC
hours are counted on till the next sun set: lhs
of the Italian hours at the summer solstlce is
O'Clock, and 10 O'Clock at the winter sostlce.
The English names Of the days OF the week are
derived from the Saxons and they partly adopted
these names from the more civilized nations OF an
tiquitv. following ingenious origin Of the an
cient names has been suggested IN connexloh win
astronomical science. The planetary arrangement
Of Ptoemy was thus /, Saturn; z, Jupiter -
Mars 4, the Sun S, Venus e, Mercury z, the
the Moon Each Of these planets was supposed to
preside successfully, over each hour OF the "a OF
each day, in the order above given In this way
Saturn would preside over the first hour OF the rst
day Jupiter over the second hour Mars over the
third the Sun over the fourth, and so on. Thus
the Sun, presiding over the fourth, eleventh, ana
eighteenth hours Of the first day,woud preside Over
the first hour of the second dag and carrying on
| the series, the Moon would preside over the first
hour of the third day, Mars the first hour OF the
fourth day, Mercury over the first hour Of the fifth
day. Jupiter over the first hour of the sixth day. and
Venus over the first hour Of the seventh day
Hence, the names of the days yet used IN the learn
ed professions throughout Europe. The present
English names are derived from the Saxon 3
Lmia English Saxon
Dies saurni Saturday Seternes day.
Dies Soils Sunday suns day.
Dies Iunee Monday Moons day.
Dies Martis Tuesday Tiw's day.
Dies Merculi "Wednesday Woden's day.
Dies .ovis Thursday Thor's day.
Dies yeneris !, Friday : Friga's day.
riw, Wooden, Thor and Frlga were deities Of
the Pagan Saxons. Thor was tile god of thunder,
as we'll as the ancient Juve; and Fiiga was "a god.
dess, the vt|eo Woden.
Almost all nations have regulated their MONTHS
10 great degree, by the revolution of the moon.
Some have endeavored to unite this division with
the annual course of the sun, by an augmentation
of days at the end of each year, or by adding a
thirteenth month at the end of every third year.
The Jews and the Athenians followed this latter
method. The Macedonians, and some nations of
ASIA assigned their months so and 3 days. The
| Turks and the Arabs have 90 and 80 days. The
| months of the Anglo-Saxons were governed by the
revolutions of the moon. Their common year con-
sisted of twelve lunar months, three months being
appropriated to each of the four seasons but every
| third year contained an additional lunar month.
| which was given to the summer season. The names
of their lunar months either had reference to their
religious ceremonies, or to the natural appearances
| of the year.
| A considerable variation prevailed generally
amongst the nations of antiquity, and still partialv
| prevails with regard to the commencement of the
YEAR The Jews dated the beginning of the sacred
year in the Month of March the Athenans in the
month of June the Macedonians on the Gath Sept
the Christians ofEgypt and Ethiopia the 29th or
3oh ofAugust; and the Persans and Armenians on
the til of August. The Jewish civil year begins on
the lst dav of the month 7lsr which this year cor
responds with our 9th Of September the Mahom-
nedan begins on the first Of the month Moharen,,
which this year corresponds with l4th of July
Nearly all the nations Of the Christian world now
commence the year on the 1st of January but as
recently as l75a, even in England, the year did not
legally and generally commence till the e5th of
March, In Scotland, at that period, the year began
on the 1st of January. This difference caused great
practical inconvenience, and January and Februa-
rry, and part Of March, sometimes bore two dates.
as we often find in old records, as l7l1, l2. This
practice often leads to chronological mistakes for
INSTANCE, we popularIy say "Tle Revolution Of