Evening star., 1922-10-12

Julius Caesar. by his unscientific
juggling of the calendar. has caused
unnecessary confusion for centuries.
say members of the international
Fixed Calendar League, who advocate
the adoption of IA thirteen month year,
with each month containing twenty
eight days and an international holi-
day added each year to make up the
365 days of the solar calendar.
There is really no reason why the
calendar should be so broken up.
league members say. In the days of
the ancient Egyptians, who originated
the calendar. working with the shad-
ows of pyramids and oheliskS. fhe
calendar was arranged with thirteen
months of equal length, with five
day festival at the end Of the year to
square things up with the sun. The
reason for the pyramids and obelisks
was their use in astronomy and cal
endar making. it is said.
Caesar Started Trouble.
In &c L. {. julius Caesar. dissatis-
fled with the moon chasing calendar
of his day, adopted the Egyptian SyS-
tem-with notifications. The Romans
were SuperStitious about odd numbers
so Julius started to do with the cal
endar as he had done with the world
and when he was through the cqua!
length months We're all broken up, the
ifve-day festival was eliminated and
the months were arranged alternately
with thirty and thirty-onc days.
SO pleased was the Roman senate
with Caesars work that il intmc-
diatcly named the seventh month III
his calendar in his honor. and the
system is known as the Julian Caien-
dar.
That worked for Il while. until one
of Caesars successors. Augustus by
name. changed his forebear'S work. III
Be. IS, and, when his heavy hand Wa
through, the calendar resulted in Its
present state; the odd and even mum ,
bercd months We're changed around
and arbitrarily fixed. February was
given a little more liberty than til.
other months. and the half years Were
set on unequal baScS-the first hall
getting only ISL days and the SECOND
1874. The Roman senate retalIattd bh
! changing the name of the eight
F.; month to honor Augustus. as that was
his birth month, as July was julius
Conferred Sabbath Rest.
| "Constantine the Great" says Il
ileague publication. conferred tbs
| ever-welcome sabbath rest each sew
enth day on Europeans; but The un-
! equal lengths of tWenty-eIght anG
I thirty-one day months imposed b!
! julius and Augustus have since
forced the Constantine weeks yearly
| to slice months into different weeks
and at month-ends almost slipt weeks
into parts. necessarily. but necdiessiy
confusing weeks and months.
In 1882 another change was made
when Pope Gregory Nil found Julius
had been wrong in his arithmetic and
made an error in computing leap
years. and that as result ten extra
days had piled up from somewhere
III O.
earth. according to that time table.
were not travelling on the same sch"d
uie. So Gregory did what many other
people have often wished. they could
do. he dug out ten days IRON one
month-Octob-r of that ytar-and
threw them into the discard. N or
der to readjust the list of March
to the Equinox. and the rest Of the
calendar To the seasons.
Since. then We have been Yelling
under the Gres"rian calendar. IN
consequence. the league complains.
Gregory moved III" CHRISTIAN year
end (Which ever since the cStahilSh-
uent Of the Christian era had been
celebrated at thriStma>) from CHRIST
mas to January 1--"nc week further
away from natures %car-end. De
cember -" Russia and Greece alone
did not comply with that edici, ana
continue as OF old.
Await Prcsidrnt's Call.
Nfter several national and inter
national conferences during H.. Of
those interested In the new movement.
a final international conference was
planned to be held some time during
the coming year. 1t will b" held here
at the Presidents call. Many repre-
sentatives of world nations will at
tend 10 discuss u program which IN
cludeS:
Location of the Year day removal
of "I Ieap day to he Il midsummer $
holiday the best arrangement to fit
the present fifty-two yearly weeks
into permanent months. a name for
the proposed month SOL the best
permanent date for Easter. the best
date on which to begin the Eearai
ar eoual month wear tentatively is at