Throughout my entire life, I have been interested in calendars. I have always bought a different kind of calendar for every year, and I have collected calendars printed in different countries. I became truly interested in calendars in 1997, when I wrote a computer program which can be used to generate calendars according to our present calendar system, the Gregorian Calendar. Now, after having studied our Gregorian Calendar quite profoundly, I have become a supporter of the reformation of our calendar system. It is unfair that people have to do unnecessary activities because of a calendar that changes every year.
The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII are the world leaders that are behind our present calendar. The basic structure of the calendar was invented during the Roman times. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a slight modification to the Julian calendar because there were some problems related to the calculation of leap years. As I shall explain below, it would be possible to reform and clarify our calendar further. That would require that we had world leaders like Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII who understand that the use of a clear and accurate calendar helps people's lives, and increases order and stability in the world.
There has been at least one attempt to change our present calendar system. After the French revolution, in 1793, the French revolutionaries started to use a new calendar which was quite different from our present Gregorian Calendar. The French Revolutionary Calendar has 10-day weeks, 3 weeks in each of its 12 months, and the year end is filled with public holidays. The French Revolutionary calendar was used about 12 years but Emperor Napoleon decided to re-establish the Gregorian Calendar. Perhaps the French calendar reform was not organized well enough, or the new calendar was too much different from the old one.
In any case, the French Revolutionary Calendar has a clear advantage over our Gregorian Calendar: each year the Revolutionary Calendar is the same, and if that were used, it would be easier to plan the time ahead, and the plans that are made for one year could be used for the following years as well. Our Gregorian Calendar is such that there are in total 14 different calendars in use. There are normal years that begin with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., and there are leap years which begin with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Every year we start using a different calendar, and during each year we need to think that how is this and that day going to be this year, when is Christmas this year, what day might be possible to have this and that meeting, etc. With the Gregorian Calendar, many organizations need to rewrite their "internal calendars" and publish them within the organizations. For example, schools and universities publish lists of dates when certain examinations are held, government organizations publish dates when elections are held, etc. All this work would be unnecessary if we had a calendar that would be perennial, i.e., the same each year.
Various perennial calendars have been proposed during the last centuries. The most famous perennial calendars are the World Calendar and its slight variations, and the 13-month calendar. The essential difference between these calendars and our present Gregorian Calendar is that the perennial calendars have 1 day each year (or 2 days in leap years) that are no conventional days of week. For example, in the original World Calendar (see Figure 1), the last day of the year is a World Day which is not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. In leap years, the World Calendar has a Leapyear Day as the last day of June and the Leapyear Day is not any day of week. By using these 1 or 2 blank days in a calendar, it is possible to make the calendar the same for every year. The fundamental problem with our Gregorian Calendar is that it calculates times in months and days, but it is totally unsynchronized with the week system. The underlying problem is that 52 weeks during a year make only 364 (52 times 7) days while there must be 365 or 366 days in a year. By having 1 or 2 days which do not belong to any week, we can make a calendar in which the year always starts with the same day of week, and a certain date always occurs on the same day of week.
The original world clalendar, World Calendar S, is shown in Figure 1 below. In World Calendar S, the year starts with a Sunday and all dates occur on the same day of week. For example, July 4 is always Wednesday and July 14 is always Saturday. If World Calendar S were in use, you could agree to meet with your friends every year on March 8 and be sure that it is Friday, or the managers in your company could have an important meeting on February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1, and everybody would know that it is Wednesday.
Figure 1: World Calendar S (the original world
calendar)
- This calendar starts with Sunday. The year
consists of four identical 3-month quarters. Each quarter consists of one
31-day month and two 30-day months. Each quarter starts on Sunday and ends
on Saturday. The last day of the year, December 31, is World Day which
is outside the week system, and might be a nice public holiday. In leap
years there is Leapyear Day, June 31, which is also outside the week system,
and might also be a public holiday. Leap years are calculated according
to the good old Gregorian system in which the basic rule is that years
equally divisible by four are leap years.
Figure 2: World Calendar M (a world calendar
starting with Monday)
- This calendar is the same as World Calendar
S in Figure 1 except that this calendar starts with Monday. The four quarters
of a year start on Monday and end on Sunday in this calendar. The advantage
of this calendar over World Calendar S is that there are no Fridays that
are days 13. Both World Calendar S and World Calendar M solve the basic
problem of our present calendar since they are both perennial calendars.
When I speak later about the World Calendar, I mean a calendar that is
chosen from these two calendars.
Figure 3: Cotsworth 13-month Calendar
- This calendar is so simple that it does not
make much sense to show all its months. It is very easy to memorize this
calendar. All months are basically the same: there are 28 days and four
weeks in every month. December 29 is Year Day which is outside the week
system. June 29 is Leapyear day that exists only in leap years and it is
also outside the week system. The name of the new month is Sol and it is
between June and July. Another name that has been proposed to the new month
is Midi. A disadvantage in this calendar is that in every month there is
a Friday 13th. This disadvantege could be removed by starting the calendar
and all months with Monday.
One problem with the original world calendar is that
there are four days that are Fridays and 13th days of a month. Although
this problem is somewhat irrelevant, it might make some people oppose the
new calendar. One possibility to solve this problem would be to use a slightly
modified world calendar like World Calendar M, which is shown in Figure
2. World Calendar M would also be in harmony with an international standard
that says that weeks should start with Monday.
Figure 3 shows one possible implementation of a 13-month perennial calendar, the Cotsworth calendar, named after Moses Cotsworth who invented it more than a hundred years ago. A perennial 13-month calendar is certainly more elegant than a perennial 12-month calendar because you can remember the calendar so easily. In the calendar in Figure 3, Sundays occur on days 1, 8, 15 and 22 in every month. If a 13-month calendar was in use, it would not even be necessary to print any calendars because everyone would have them memorized in their minds. Yet, as I shall explain below, it may be difficult to introduce a 13-month calendar as a new reformed calendar.
It will not be easy to adopt a new calendar throughout the entire world, but in the long run it would be beneficial for the mankind. A perennial calendar would clarify the concept of a year in our minds, and make it easier to plan and organize the activities we make every year. There would be less complexity and our minds might think something more useful than "on what day of week is that event going to happen this year."
Many public activities could be organized in a more rational manner if a perennial calendar was in use. For example, at your car dealer you could have a fixed date reserved for the yearly maintenance of your car, the dates for haircut could always be the same, you could have certain dates to visit your doctor, etc. Various businesses could arrange special events during the year: restaurants could serve special menus on certain dates, movie theaters could show classic films on certain dates, etc.
There will be a lot of people who are against a calendar reform. In the beginning it will cause problems. I believe that a 12-month perennial calendar should be the new calendar instead of a 13-month perennial calendar. Although the 13-month perennial calendar is more elegant than a 12-month calendar, the basic benefits can be achieved with a calendar like World Calendar S in Figure 1. I think that it is an advantage that the number of months is equally divisible with numbers 2, 3, and 4. Some people are sensitive in regard to number 13. The introduction of a completely new month would cause confusion, and some people would start arguing about the correct name for the new month. That might put the entire calendar reform in jeopardy. The adoption of a new calendar during the French Revolution failed, at least partly, because the new calendar was so much different from the old one. Therefore, the new perennial calendar should resemble the present calendar as much as possible.
A transformation from the present Gregorian Calendar to a perennial 12-month calendar is not a big change to our thinking. People would still have the same months that would still have approximately the same number of days. Historical dates and people's birthdays would remain largely the same as they are today. It would not be necessary to rename the movie "Born on 4th of July". A transformation to a 13-month system would be a larger change. All history books had to be rewritten with new dates with the new month, all songs that contain month names would be obsolete, in Berlin the street "Strasse des 17 Juni" and in Mexico City the street "Avenida 5 de Mayo" should be renamed, etc. Personally, I would be glad to switch to a 13-month perennial calendar system, but I believe that to many "less calendaric" people the 13-month calendar would be a too big change. (I personally wouldn't even mind changing to the original Julian Calendar if it were enhanced with the Gregorian leap year calculation rules. The original Julian Calendar was, in fact, a perennial calendar because it didn't have the 7-day week system. The Julian calendar lost its accuracy, and the decline of the Roman Empire started ;-), when the week system was introduced by Emperor Constantine.)
Adopting a new calendar will require modifications in computer systems throughout the entire world. All banks, electricity companies, mobile phones, personal computers, etc. etc. use the present Gregorian Calendar. The software in all these computers should be modified to comply to the new calendar. That would not be easy, but in the long run it would mean a huge business opportunity to all the companies that produce software for computing equipment. The new perennial calendar would simplify computer software in most cases.
It will be necessary that people and companies have something like 5 to 10 years time to prepare for the calendar reform. The governments of different countries, or the United Nations, should make a decisions that the new calendar shall be taken into use after 5 years or so. During the transition period software companies should make their software ready for the new calendar, and earn a lot of money. Ordinary people might prepare themselves for a time that they do not have to read a calendar so much. Instead they might anxiously wait the day that is not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. What kinds of special rituals might people invent for such a day, a day that is no day?
In summary, the problem with our Gregorian Calendar is that the 7-day week system is not synchronized with the duration of the year. This problem should be corrected by starting to use a perennial calendar like the World Calendar. Year is the time that is needed for our planet Earth to go around the Sun. Year is thus a very fundamental and holy time unit on Earth. Therefore, we should base our calendar on this time, and synchronize the 7-day week system into the movement of our planet.
I have found, to my pleasure, that some people on the Internet are concerned about the deficiencies of our present Gregorian Calendar. More information about calendars and calendar reform can be found at
Calendar reform and the World Calendar
www.calendarreform.org www.sexagesimal.org
If we, the people of the Earth, started using a calendar
which would be the same for every year, it would tremendously help us to
organize both our private and professional lives. The change would be something
comparable to inventing the zero in mathematics. The adoption of a new
calendar would be a great historical event, at least equally important
than inventing the computer or traveling to the moon. It would be something
positive to be written into the history books. Perhaps the greatest aspect
of this kind of historical event is that we can all participate in it.
NOTES ABOUT CALENDAR REFORM
The following notes may clarify some things that were told in the article above. These notes are inspired by the feedback I have received.WOULD A PERENNIAL CALENDAR MAKE LIFE MONOTONOUS?
Some people say that life is more interesting and less dull because every year is different because of a different calendar. They are afraid that, if a perennial calendar were taken into use, life would become more monotonous.I just can't believe that acting according to the forever-changing
Gregorian Calendar can be the only elixir of life for people. The changing
calendar most certainly causes confusion, and sometimes the moments of
confusion are those moments that you can remember later. A perennial calendar
would reduce confusion but I believe that people would still find ways
to make their lives interesting, and years differ from each other. We humans
are intelligent creatures. If our minds were relieved from calendar studies,
we might concentrate on something else that would enhance our life quality
in ways we cannot now imagine.
CALENDARS AND THE CONCEPTION OF TIME
One complaint I have heard about a perennial calendar, and especially about the blank days that are needed to make the calendar the same for every year, is that the annual blank day that is not Monday, Tuesday, or any other conventional day of week, will confuse our minds and break the conception of time that has developed during thousands of years.I see this problem in completely different way. My opinion is that presently there is no clear conception of time in our minds because on the one hand we are measuring time in years and months, and on the other hand we are measuring time in 7-day weeks, and these two scales for time measurement are not synchronized. That confuses our minds and prevents us from making a clear conception of time. As there are 14 different kinds of years in the Gregorian Calendar and these possible years follow each other in a somewhat random order, we do not have a clear conception of a year.
Presently we do have a clear conception of a week. To make a perennial calendar, we should slightly modify the concept of a week. This modification would certainly cause some confusion but by making this sacrifice we would get a chrystal-clear conception of a year. It is better if we can plan the future in years than just in 7-day periods.
A perennial calendar whose years are always the same might also modify our conception of time so that we could trust more on the years that are ahead of us. The future is always not known and insecure. If there were a calendar that would be the same in all the coming years, there would be one thing less insecure in the future. This could increase optimism in people's minds, and make this world a little bit better.
The 7-day week system has been used maybe more than 4000
years. According to Elisabeth Achelis, who divoted her life to the promotion
of the World Calendar, the 7-day week system was introduced to Palestine
by the Assyrians. Weeks were not used in the original Julian Calendar that
was thus perennial. The 7-day week was introduced to the Julian Calendar
by Emperor Constantine, and that made the calendar to loose its perenniality.
It is important to note that the Roman Empire experienced its most heroic
times during those centuries when a perennial calendar was in use. The
Ancient Egyptians were also using a perennial calendar, and their culture
is quite remarkable as well.
HOW AN ORDINARY PERSON WOULD LIVE THE FIRST YEAR WITH A NEW CALENDAR?
Let's suppose that the World Calendar M (in Figure 2) is taken into use in the beginning of year 2007. Because the World Calendar M starts with a Monday, and the previous year 2006 ends with a Sunday, we could not notice the change of the calendar. The first time we would notice the new calendar would come after two months since there would be days 29 and 30 in the end of February. Then we would notice the new calendar so that day 31 would be missing from March, April would have day 31, day 31 would be missing from May, and day 31 would be missing from August. Then, in the end of the year there would be the December 31, 2007 that would be the first World Day that is not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or any other conventional day of week. Then would follow January 1, 2008, that would be Monday. Year 2008 would be similar to 2007 except that there would be June 31, 2008, the first Leapyear Day that would be no conventional day of week.The new calendar would not make the life of an ordinary person difficult. During the last months of year 2007, an ordinary person might see the first benefits of the new calendar. Let's suppose that an ordinary person works in the offices of some company, and he or she must participate in various meetings. In November 2007, somebody might ask the ordinary person to decide the date of an annual meeting that should be held in February 2008. The first reaction to such a request would be to think about the calendar of February 2008 to look for a suitable meeting date. The ordinary person might first think in such a situation that he or she can't decide the meeting date because the calendar of February 2008 is not available. Then the person would remember that he or she does not necessarily need a new calendar because the calendar of February 2007 can be used for this purpose. Later on the persons who are attending the annual meeting would realize that they can always have this annual meeting on precisely the same date, and the difficult work of finding a suitable date can be forgotten.
If the ordinary person is a housewife who is taking care of her children, she might think in December 2007 that what day might the schools start in January 2008. Se may first think about calling to school to ask, but then she would realize that they start the same day as they started in January 2007, and she does not need to worry about it. Here the new calendar makes things easier as the housewife does not need to call to school, and the school personnel can concentrate on something more important than answering unnecessary phone calls.
Let's then suppose that the ordinary person is a university
professor who has a habit of organizing an annual scientific seminar which
certain people around the world attend. The seminar is always in February
and some of the attendees like to come to it because after the seminar
they can spend a weekend in a skiing resort that is near the university.
Usually the organization of the seminar takes time because the attendees
must be informed, hotel rooms must be reserved, etc. So the professor and
his secretary start planning the seminar of February 2008 already in October
2007. Then they realize some facts when they read the papers of the previous
seminar of February 2007. Because the calendar does not change, they can
organize the seminar of February 2008 exactly on the same dates as it was
organized in February 2007. They can reserve hotel rooms for the same dates
as previous year. Even the attendees can use the same flights when coming
to the seminar. After discovering this, the professor decides that the
seminar will always be on the same dates in February. The fixed seminar
dates help also the attendees. Some of them can now make permanent reservations
for a certain February weekend in the hotel in the nearby skiing resort.
HOW THE DATES OF FESTIVITIES WOULD OCCUR IN THE WORLD CALENDAR?
In the article above I have suggested that, if a perennial calendar is taken into use, it is best to start using a version of the World Calendar because it is very close to the present Gregorian Calendar. A change from the Gregorian Calendar to a World Calendar would cause just minor modifications to the positions of certain days of a year. The following lists of days describe the differences between days in the World Calendar and in the Gregorian Calendar (in a normal non-leap year):World January: 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian January: 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World January: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Gregorian January: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31
World February: 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian February: 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World February: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian February: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
1 2
World March: 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15
Gregorian March: 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
World March: 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian March: 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 1
World April: 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15
Gregorian April: 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
World April: 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Gregorian April: 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 1 2
World May :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15
Gregorian May: 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
World May:
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian May: 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1
World June:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15
Gregorian June: 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
World June: 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian June: 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 1
World July:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15
Gregorian July: 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
World July: 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Gregorian July: 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1
World August : 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian August: 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
World August: 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian August: 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31
World September: 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian September: 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World September: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian September:16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
World October: 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian October: 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World October: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Gregorian October: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31
World November : 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian November: 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World November: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Gregorian November: 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
World December: 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Gregorian December: 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
World December: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Gregorian December: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
As you can see by studying the day lists above, a day can sometimes move one or two, but not more, days when we change from one calendar to another. Five months (January, September, October, November, and December) are exactly the same in both calendars. So, if you are born in October, your birthday occurs exactly on the same date in the World Calendar as it occurs in the Gregorian Calendar. But, if you are born on, say, 4th of June according to the Gregorian Calendar, you will, at least mathematically, celebrate one day too late if you are celebrating on the 4th of June in the World Calendar.
The change of a calendar affects various activities around the globe, but the change from the Gregorian Calendar to the World Calendar would not cause any devastating difficulties. For example, a wine producer in Spain who is accustomed to the fact that the grapes are normally mature on 21th of August, on the day of Santa Ana, could still live according to this knowledge, although the 21th of August would occur one day later in the World Calendar. The climate most certainly varies from one year to another so much that it makes effect of the calendar change insignificant.
If the World Calendar were taken into use, people should make small adjustments to their previous thinking but they would make no serious mistakes by thinking in the old way. For example, I always think that the day when the day is longest in the Northern Hemisphere occurs around 21st of June in the Gregorian Calendar. In the World Calendar this day is June 20. To correct my thinking, I should go one day back in the calendar, but forgetting to make this shift would not cause any significant harm.
CALENDAR REFORM AND THE ECONOMY
Business people like George Eastman, the person who has founded the Eastman Kodak Company, have supported a perennial calendar because of economical reasons. The economy of the world would most certainly operate more effectively if a perennial calendar were used. People would be more creative and productive because they would not have to spend so much time planning the future.If the calendar reform is made, it should be made so that ordinary people would benefit of it. Because the reformed calendar would make the society more effective, it would be possible to give more public holidays to people. At least the blank days, the Leapyear Day and the World Day, should be public holidays. In addition to these there could be some other new holidays. One such day could be Calendarmakers' Day on which we could remember those people who wasted a lot of time on creating a new calendar for every year. Another public holiday could be Future Day on which people could plan the future of the Earth. Because of a new calendar it would be easier to plan the future. The new public holidays should be on certain fixed dates on the new calendar.
Giving new holidays would be a means to sell the new calendar
to people. Some people at organizations like trade unions could be against
the calendar reform if the new calendar would not produce at least equally
many public holidays as the old one. (I'm not against trade unions here.
On the contrary, they are an important part of this capitalistic society.
Only those countries are developed and rich where trade unions are strong.)
ALL ORGANIZATIONS HAVE CALENDAR MAKERS
In all kinds of organizations (educational institutions, private companies, government offices, etc.) there are people who plan certain activities for the organization, and that work has to be done again and again because the gregorian calendar changes every year. Because I work in a school that educates people to become engineers, I tell an example of our school.Every year a lower manager in our school makes an internal calendar for the school. That calendar tells, for example, when the semesters begin and end, which are the dates for examinations, which weeks are the holiday weeks in the middle of semesters, and on which date is the graduation date. I suppose that the manager has to spend at least one day to make the calendar because he has to make calculations which ensure that there is a certain number of days when the students have classes. When the internal calendar has been made, it is distributed to everybody in the organization and posted on bulletin boards. The distribution of the calendar consumes the resources of the organization.
Then, usually twice a year, we have meetings into which about one hundred teachers attend. Those meetings usually take place in the beginning and end of a school year. One ritual of those meetings is the study of the internal calendar. The lower manager explains the internal calendar in front of the 100 teachers who listen. That takes usually at least 15 minutes, and as it happens twice a year it means that something like 50 person hours are spent each year just in the presentation of the internal calendar. In addition to that, those 100 teachers and thousands of students have to look at the internal calendar many times during the school year. This means hundreds of lost working hours because of a calendar that changes every year. If a perennial calendar were in use, the internal school calendar would also be the same every year, and less hours would need to be spent on studying the calendar.
Our school is just one example of an organization that
has an internal calendar. In various other organizations there are people
who make internal calendars, distribute those calendars to the people in
the organization, and the people need to look at the internal calendar
every now and then. If a perennial calendar were the basis of the society,
the internal calendars in organizations could also be perennial. People
working in organizations would gradually start to memorize the perennial
internal calendars, and they could do something more creative than looking
at calendars.
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS
In the article above, I have presented the World Calendar as my favourite calendar for the future. As there are many other possible perennial calendars available, I still would like to say a few words to support the adoption of the World Calendar.The World Calendar solves the basic problem of our present calendar: the World Calendar is the same every year.
The World Calendar may not be mathematically equally beautiful as other perennial calendars. However, there are no mathematically perfect calendars. The reasons for this are astronomical. The length of a year is the time that is needed for the Earth to go around to Sun. The length of a day is the time during which the Earth rotates once around its own axis. The length of a year does not relate "beautifully" to the length of a day, and that makes all calendars somewhat "ugly".
We should, perhaps, respect the generations that have lived before us by not abandoning the 12-month system.
The World Calendar has already been "sold" to the leaders of many countries during the years when Elisabeth Achelis was active. Various archives in many countries may contain documents that would help us to resell the idea to the present leaders of the world. The benefits of the World Calendar have already been acknowledged.
Because the World Calendar is very much similar to our present Gregorian Calendar, it is easy to start using it. In addition, when the World Calendar is in use, it is easy to read documents that were written during the time when the old Gregorian Calendar was still in use. When (if) a calendar reform takes place, there will be a lot of books and documents from the old Gregorian time and those texts need to be interpreted by many people.
We, the calendar reformers, are people who do not want
to spend time reading the calendar. A perennial calendar would increase
the stability of our lives because we would not have to reschedule our
lives every year. Also the "ordinary" people want stability, and a new
calendar that changes their lives too tremendously would not be accepted.
FINAL COMMENTS
I have devoted quite much time to writing the text of this page. Every now and then I have wondered if this makes sense. Then I have realized that, after all, it is quite remarkable to continue the work that has previously been carried out by people like Julius Ceasar, Pope Gregory XIII, Moses Cotsworth, George Eastman, Elisabeth Achelis, the French revolutionarists, etc. etc. Many people have presented ideas related to calendars, and at this moment I cannot list them all, or put them in some kind of order of importance. In any case, I want to emphasize that I have not invented the perennial calendars. I'm just telling about their benefits. Calendars are in any case important tools in the human life. Maybe we cannot yet comprehend how big role they play in our society. A change to a calendar like the World Calendar could reveal the true role of proper time measurement.One of my favourite movies is "Contact" by director Robert
Zemeckis. In this movie Jodie Foster plays a scientist who is searching
contacts with intelligent creatures elsewhere in the universe. A contact
with intelligent beings is made in the movie, and it turns out that the
other communicating party seems to be far more intelligent than the inhabitants
of the Earth. While I have been writing the paragraphs of this page, I
have thought about the possibility of us making a contact with other intelligent
creatures in the universe. We would probably want to demonstrate that we,
too, are intelligent. We could show our inventions of the 20th century:
aeroplanes, rockets, cars, computers, atomic bombs, etc. etc. I'm afraid,
however, that the extraterrestial creatures might be interested in something
totally different and say: "We have found out that time is a quite important
component in the universe. What do you think of time? Have you seriously
thought of all possible ways of measuring time? What do you think about
spending time? What should living creatures do with all their time? What
is the relation between time and life?" In such a situation it would be
somewhat shameful to respond: "Well, we have this Gregorian Calendar that
has worked well for centuries. Time has not been our primary concern. There
always seems to be time to do various things."
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank M.A. Carmen Martínez Carrillo for comments to this page and possible calendar reforms. Although she is not a supporter of a calendar reform, her views and opinions have greatly inspired me in the development of this Internet page.If you want to learn computer programming, you want to
know what computer programming is, you want to know some basics about the
operation of computers, you want to learn to write better computer programs,
you want to learn to write programs that print calendars, or you want to
know something about programming languages like C++, C#, or Java, you should
visit www.naturalprogramming.com.