Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-01
new YEAR DAY.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

New Year day has appeared In many
guises to many people. IT has fallen
in the blossom months of spring, In
torrid summer in the vintage season
and amid the SHOWS and cold of win
ter. For most Of the people of Ameri-
ca and Europe it falls upon the first
of January, or of the second winter
month. As logical as this seems to
determine the beginning of new year
at the point marking the commence
ment Of another solar year, New Year
day Of the Christian calendar fails to
correspond with the initial dates of
many other calendar systems, even
among those of modern times.
The Christian era has been in opera
ton little over 1900 years. The
epoch of the birth of Christ was in
troduced into Italy in the middle of
the sixth century, by Dionysius the
Little. Roman abbot, and it gained
steadily in popularity until in the six
teenth century its use became general
among western Christians. 1t began
TO be followed in Gaul in the eighth
century. Before the close of that CEN
fury it had come into use in England.
In the ninth century, il began to be
used in Spain in conjunction with an
Older era, the era of the conquest of
that country by the Roman emperor
Augustus. Today, as result of the
hardihood and aggressiveness of its
followers. the Christian calendar has
been firmly impressed on the civilized
world. 1t Is rapidly becoming the civil
and legal calendar of all the peoples
Of the world.
In its present form our calendar is
product of modern times. 1t dates from
1882, when Pope Gregory XIII cor
rected the error OF the calendar which
has been established with the reform
OF the Roman calendar by Julius
Caesar. The Julian year exceeded the
solar year by IL minutes and 1895 sec
onds- BY the time of Pope GREGORY
the Julian calendar had gained ten
Gregorian reform established year of
365 days, hours, 40 minutes and IL
seconds. in place of the Julian year of
3SeA days The solar year is 365 days,
hours, As minutes and 1905 seconds.
Thus. our calendar still gains % Sec
onds year upon the sun.
The Christian era has supplanted
among the civilizations of the west null
upicity OF systems for computing time.
In ages when the bonds between peo-
pies were loose and each little commu-
nifty formed a whole within itself, each
was possessed of its own calendar And
the confusion of time among the COM
munitieS was extreme. This was true
among the western civilizations during
the first eight centuries of the Christian
era
X
During the time of conflict between the
Christians and the pagan worlds, there
were three main
Pagans Had Three systems of time
Systems of Time. were the Rabv,
lonian, the Greek and the Roman.
The youngest of these eras was the
Babylonian. or the era of Nabonassar 1t
was. however, the oldest in point of use.
having been employed from the date of
its origin The era began with the reign
OF Nabonassar, founder Of the kingdom
OF Babylonians, at time corresponding
with the year TAT B. c. of the Christian
calendar. This calendar became famous
through its general use by the ancient
astronomers HipparchLs and Ptolemy..
IL was also the basis of the renowned
canon OF Kings, preserved in the works
OF Ptolemy. which was the sole anthem
tic source Of Assyrian and Babylonian
history until the recent unearthing of a
buried library on the site of Nineveh.
The year employed by the Babylonians
was the wandering year of the ancient
Egyptians. 1t counted 365 days, and fell
behind the sun one day in every four
years. That meant that the Egyptian
and Babytonfan calendar lost one year in
every 1.46O years According to the
celestial phenomena of the epoch day,
the Babylonian New Year day fell on
February 70. In terms of solar time
however. Babylonian New Year day was
impartial for IL wandered through each
Of the days of the year once in every
cycle Of $50 years
The Greek calendar was a witness to
the nature that. up to the time of Soc
rates. had produced the sunniest art
the word has ever known. They reck-
oned their years according to their Olym-
pie games, religious festivals of athletic
and artistic contests One story has it
that these games were established by
the Idaean Heracles to commemorate his
triumph over his four brothers in foot
race
Olympiads were celebrated every four
years on the plain of Olympia in Ellis.
The festival lasted five days. 1t was OBJ
served between the new and the full
moon first following the summer SOL
stice- When the first Olympiad was OBJ
served is a matter for conjecture, but
the epoch Olympiad from which the later
Greeks reckoned the flight of time was
that In which GORGEOUS was victor in
the games. and il corresponded with the
year If6 &c. of our era.
The Olympic New Year was generally
regarded as falling on July /. The
Greeks en-
Greeks Reckoned Time ployed a
From Olympic Games. twelve ,u,,ar
months of thirty and twenty-nine days,
alternately. This gave them a year OF
3Ji days. which was eleven and one
quarter days shorter than the solar year
To compensate this difference they de-
vised method. arbitrary and compli-
Gated. They added an intercalary month
of thirty or twenty-n days every
alternate year. This made their years
average seven days in advance of the
sun To equaliZe this last difference, the
intercalary month was omitted once in
eight years Continuing this calendar of
the ancient Greeks, it would be today
midyear of the first year of the 672d
Olympiad.
The third calendar. the Roman calen-
dar. WAS derived from the founding Of