The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1922-01-08
MEASURING TINE

"The American is apt to regard his
New. Year as The New Year. Had h,
penchant for celebrating holidays h,
could travel in, a more or less leisure
" way around the world, and in tn,
course Of the year could participate il
six or seven New Year festivities
adding a couple of Christmas cele
brations for good measure" accord
ing to bulletin from the Washing
ton headquarters Of the Nationa
Geographic society.
"Our American might start his pro
gressive holiday jaunt by going t.
some western European country fol
the approaching New Year which the
United States too will celebrate He
could then travel to Greece, Jugo-
Slavia, Rumania, or Bulgaria in time
for Christmas in those countries,
Christmas is also December rs in the
countries named, according to their
calendars, but corresponds to Jan
uary 7 in America.
by remaining a week in the same
.
Year Day, called January j, but cor
responding with the American and
western European January Ia. By
pushing on and making good connec-
tons he might be able to reach Snga-
pore, or by supplementing steamers
with airplanes could reach China it
self to take part in the most thor
oughgoing New Year celebration in
the world, the Chinese New Year.
after the Chinese New Year cele-
bration, the traveller could pursue his
holiday hunting less strenuously for
while. He could arrange to arrive
in Siam in time for the Siamose New
Year on April |, and afterward could
have five months Of sightseeing be-
fore reaching Arabia for the Mo
hammedan New Year on September
4. He could then cross the Red Sea
and make a quick journey into Abys-
sinia to take part in the New Year
festivities Of that country on Sep
TENDER 10. Returning to the Red
Sea and taking a steamer north he
could easily reach Jerusalem in good
time for the Hebrew New Year, Oct
ober 3.
"The holiday hunter would now
have taken part in all the principal .
New Year celebrations of the world .
and could return to the Western .
hemisphere to spend the Christmas
with which he is most familiar at his
own hearth side. In six days less
than a year he would have chalked up
seven New Year and two Christmas
celebrations TO his credit.
"The worlds multiplicity of New
Year Days and Christmastdes is due 4
to the fact that our calendar is large
ly an arbitrary device The earth re-
wolves around the sun in 365.2422
days, which makes the true year a 4
very odd measure of time. And it is
almost as difficult 10 choose a logical n
beginning for the year as 1t is to find
the starting point of circle. Diff \
ferent peoples have selected different ]
starting points and have also assum- i
ed the year to be of slightly different
lengths, This has not only resulted
in the years beginning at different
times but has also caused the times
Of beginning to vary in their relations
to one another from year to year. II
is as though a clock had half a dozen
Or more hands all moving around the
lial from different starting points.
"Tho most logical starting points
'or the year would seem TO be sum
ner and winter sostces and the
spring and autumn equinoxes; and
Ill of them have been made to mark
he beginnings Of the years in some
,arts of the world The Gregorian
calendar that is now in use in the
United States and throughout most of
he Christias world, is the Julian cal- !
ndar slightly modified When julius :
'aesar caused it to be constructed,
he beginning Of the year, January I
, was placed seven days after the
winter solstice, and not in conjunc-
ion with it as logic would seem to
ictate. The Julian year was made,
y means Of the leap year device,
6525 days long. which was an ex-
ess over the true year Of IL minutes
nd IA seconds. This excess caused
he nominal January l TO creep grad
ally farther and farther beyond the
inter solstice so that by the time
f the Church Council Of Nice in 325
was eleven days beyond the solstice
lstead of seven.
by the time of Pope Gregory's
orrection in 1852, January / was p
avs beyond the solstice and Christ
las II beyond. If the calendar had
emained uncorrected; New Year Day
ould have gone on creeping forward,
rst into spring, then into summer"