The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-25
MAKING OF CALENDARS
SYSTEM OF MEASURING TIME ONCE
VERY CRUDE AND CONFUSED.
How Calculations by the Moon Grad
uaIIy Became More Scientific
Adoption of Roman System.
wilbur F. Steele, in western Christian Ad-

Wilbur F. Steele, in Western Christian Ad-
vocate.
Calendars are now ripe. Indeed. they are
quite "the fruit of the season." Briskly is
the crop being marketed the patent medi-
cine mixer and every other generous man
who will blow his own horn, actually giving
theirs away with lavish hand.
But it was not always thus. This knowl-
edge of the notable days to be observed in
each month, and later in the whole year.
which from the Romans we call the call
endar, was once utterly unknown by the
common people. In all countries it was an
GENTLY much mixed and very crude. Among
the Romans, from whom we have inherited
much Of ours, the whole matter was under
the jealous control of the priests. On the
first of each month, with an air of mystery
and divine authority, they doled it out to the
plebeians, especially "called" together like
sheep to be told the same. Great and men,
orable was the day when, in the year 3O4 B.
c., certain Flavius, young stenographer
in Rome stole from his master this secret,
and forever gave it to the masses.
OF course, the first, simplest and easiest
reckoning of time was by day and night.
Next thereafter men kept track of the still
larger portions by the temperance of the
moon Hence they began to speak of the
period of its coming, waxing and waning,
as "moonth," or as we more economically
pronounce and spell 1t, a month"
To be sure, there was also the annual
return of the seasons, when the earth COM
pleted it's yearly circuit around the sun. But
during the time that the earth goes once
around the golden sun, bringing New Year,
the silver moon has gone around the earth
at such rate as to give us new moon
twelve times-and about third over. 1t Is
just this third over which has bewitched
all the calendars Since New Year and a
new moon rarely come exactly together, for
countless ages men have racked their brains
the sun as their timepiece. similar diff
ficulty would arise were the minute and
hour hands Of the clock rarely or never to
get to the XII mark exactly together
LENGTH OF MONTHS.
Consequently the months have been of
varying length among different peoples, and,
at different times among the same people.
Cases are known where some months had
sixteen days and others thirty-nine days.
Relics of this variation appear in the fact
that our own months differ in length seven
having thirty-one days, four thirty, one
twenty-nine February every fourth year.
extraordinarily, and one twenty-eight Feb-
ruary, ordinarily This last arises from the
fact that in the course Of every four years,
we are behind hand with our reckoning
nearly day, and in order to catch UP we
insert the same at the end of February, CIV
ing it twenty-nine days in the leap year.
But as this process ADDS in each leap year.
about an hour too much, after twenty-four
of them, or a century, we have caught up
by whole day. Hence the ladies must lose
their privilege in the year 1900, for that Feb
ruary will not have an additional or twenty
ninth day, although that number is divisible
by four.
But to return to old times When we first
become acquainted with the early Egypt
ians we find that they had settled down to
year having twelve months of thirty days
each. This gave them a year of 800 days,
or five days less than a sun year. They
therefore hung on cheese five days as sort
of appendix to the year. before they began
another. These five days they esteemed as
unlucky.
At the first glimpse of Rome. Romuluss
had a year OF ten months. six of which had
thirty days, and four thirty-one, making in
all 3o4 What he did with the rest OF the
time while the sun was getting TIN ar14ha aye
familiar as most of them are in our list, as
follows:
father, Mars, the god OF war
O. Aprilis perhaps from Aphrodite, sup
posed goddess mother OF Aeneas. ,,..
g. Maius; from Mala, mother or Mercury:
Junius: from Juno, the Queen OF
8 Ouinc-tils, or fifth month; later called
July, after julius Caesar
g. Sex-tlis or sixth month; later called
August after Augustus Caesar 49,,
Z.
later Germanicus Caesar ordered called after
himself. but without lasting effect.
s. October, or eighth month; which
Domtlan ordered named for himself.
8. November, or ninth month.
| 10. December, or tenth month
LEFT OVER MONTHS.
Tho next King took the spare sixty-one
| days and added some to the short months,
and OF the rest he made an eleventh and
twelfth month namely, January. from the
| god Janua. and February, from the Latin
deity, whose rites OF worship were cee-
brated in that season. The year thus began
| in the spring for nearly seven hundred
| years, until julius Caesar ordered them to
begin a year with Jan. /, proceeding
which throws all our number months out OF
But why cali il a calendar? On this wise:
| We have learned that from new moon TO
new moon II is exactly twenty-nine days,
| twelve hours forty-fOur minutes and two
and siXty-eight one-hundredth seconds. But
the ancients walked by sight rather than
| arithmetic. Hence among the Romans, no
| less than the Hebrews, and other nations OF
| antiquity as the time drew near for the
the inferior priests of the keenest vision
| were set to scan the western sky for the
! first glimpse of its golden crescent at sum
| set.
Upon its discovery, word was at once sent
| to the chief sacrifcer, and an offering made
to the goddess Juno. The people were then
| days Of the coming "moonth" would be
sacred what would be court days. and when
| the "nones," or first quarter, and when the
| 'ides" or full moon.
! Every day in the last half of the month
was reckoned as so many days before the
calling" day of the next month; Our chill
dren often reckon days sb IN Se9re as tae
mas. So the Romans counted days as so
1t therefore became absolutely necessary
for all to know just how many days the
opening month was TO have. But through
extreme faintness Of the new moon, it might
eude the eyes of the watchers for full
dav: or through cloudy weather. it might
be hidden AS also only the priests could
know whether they were about to insert or
omit a day to keep their reckoning straight,
the common people were utterly dependent
each time upon tho "Cal-enda," or the
things to be called by the priests at the
beginning of each month.
Hence the establishment by law of the
exact number of days before the calends of
all the months and the publication of this
Information in "calender-um" was, and
is most valuable to mankind. And thus
arose the calendar.