A random thought.

carteater · Jan 29, 2015

Why does the year end in December

Shirley it would make more sense for it to end in February, and start in March, it would also mark the transition from Bleak winter to blooming (no pun intended) spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and from Scorching Summer to less scorching Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. :moo:

symyjym · Jan 29, 2015

You could always go by the Chinese New Year, it is close to your requirements.

Prince Monolulu · Jan 29, 2015

Wouldn't all the calendars (especially the BHA one, a snip at £3.00) be obsolete?

twickers · Jan 29, 2015

carteater said:
Why does the year end in December Shirley it would make more sense for it to end in February, and start in March, it would also mark the transition from Bleak winter to blooming (no pun intended) spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and from Scorching Summer to less scorching Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

You're messing with the Julian calendar.

RexCathedra · Jan 29, 2015

The reason why the months have the names they do -- December from decem, ten; October from octo, eight, etc -- is because until roughly 170 BCE the year did begin on March 1, at least in Rome.

The Romans changed to a January 1 start in order to synchronise the start of the term of office of magistrates -- elected in October, entering office in January -- and the start of the calendar year.

Easy 10 · Jan 29, 2015

RexCathedra said:
The reason why the months have the names they do -- December from decem, ten; October from octo, eight, etc -- is because until roughly 170 BCE the year did begin on March 1, at least in Rome.

The Romans changed to a January 1 start in order to synchronise the start of the term of office of magistrates -- elected in October, entering office in January -- and the start of the calendar year.

Now THAT was genuinely interesting. I never knew that.

I'd give you a thumbs up there, if I did them.

carteater · Jan 29, 2015

twickers said:
You're messing with the Julian calendar.

isn't it the gregorian calendar

Bombadier Botty · Jan 30, 2015

twickers said:
You're messing with the Julian calendar.

The Julian Calendar is legendary in our office.

RexCathedra · Jan 30, 2015

Easy 10 said:
Now THAT was genuinely interesting. I never knew that.

I'd give you a thumbs up there, if I did them.

It's how I earn my living.
I cannot tell you why there are no buses, when there are no buses, or trains, then there are no trains.
I can't tell you whether Blackpool is pay-on-the-day, or who killed the f*cking Zutons.

But for the Romans, I'm your man.

DavePage · Jan 30, 2015

RexCathedra said:
It's how I earn my living.
I cannot tell you why there are no buses, when there are no buses, or trains, then there are no trains.
I can't tell you whether Blackpool is pay-on-the-day, or who killed the f*cking Zutons.

But for the Romans, I'm your man.

Ummm, where’s the best place for a Caesar Salad?

RexCathedra · Jan 30, 2015

DavePage said:
Ummm, where’s the best place for a Caesar Salad?

Tijuana. Seriously.

Garry Nelson's Left Foot · Jan 30, 2015

RexCathedra said:
The reason why the months have the names they do -- December from decem, ten; October from octo, eight, etc -- is because until roughly 170 BCE the year did begin on March 1, at least in Rome.

The Romans changed to a January 1 start in order to synchronise the start of the term of office of magistrates -- elected in October, entering office in January -- and the start of the calendar year.

Please forgive me if I'm being a bit slow on the uptake but does that mean January and February used to be the 11th and 12th months?

Dick Knights Mumm · Jan 30, 2015

How did it work when an emperor took a month? August was Augustus wasn't it?

Why didn't they run out of months, and was there any significance to the time of year an emperor was allocated?

Dick Knights Mumm · Jan 30, 2015

And is "I Claudius" more fiction than fact?

AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit · Jan 30, 2015

Dick Knights Mumm said:
How did it work when an emperor took a month? August was Augustus wasn't it?

Why didn't they run out of months, and was there any significance to the time of year an emperor was allocated?

Wasn't July for Julius?

beorhthelm · Jan 30, 2015

RexCathedra said:
The reason why the months have the names they do -- December from decem, ten; October from octo, eight, etc -- is because until roughly 170 BCE the year did begin on March 1, at least in Rome.

interesting but also wrong. they shifted by two after the inclusion of July and August, which was around 50 and 10BC respectivly. though March may have originally been the start of the year, i believe they had 10 months, so dont really know how that all worked.

supaseagull · Jan 30, 2015

I always thought that July and August (named after Julius and Augustus) were the months added into the calendar.

Then you have September, October, Novermber & December originally named after the numbers they represent on the Latin calendar 7- septem, 8- octo, 9- Novem, 10- Decem.

Of the other months, January is named after the God Janus, February - Februlia, March - Mars.

You then have May named after Maia the Roman goddess for plant growth and then June named after the God Juno.

beorhthelm · Jan 30, 2015

must apologies to RexCathedra: he is quite right the original Roman months started in March and went through to 10th month as December. been cribbing the subject on the train, and July/August were renamed, not added. interesting that the months January and February were tacked on the end, the very first Roman calendar didn't count them, just had a big gap in the winter from December to March. another trivia is that the UK didnt adopt the Gregorian calandar until late 1700's, until which time we started our year on 25th March.

which makes a bit more sense than 1st March being near the spring solstice. coming back to the original thought, the logical place to start the year would be on the winter solstice, so wind the calandar back so many days to match. i wonder if that was the case before the Julian-Gregorian switch, when the calandar shifted a number of days.

StonehamPark · Jan 30, 2015

To make is as simple as possible.

The year was originally made up of 10 Months. March - December, with 57 unallocated days after December and before March which were just marked as 'Winter'.
January and February were eventually prefixed to the previous 10 month calendar, et voila. Sense.

Gwylan · Jan 30, 2015

beorhthelm said:
another trivia is that the UK didnt adopt the Gregorian calandar until late 1700's, until which time we started our year on 25th March.

We adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, not really late 1700s - we lost 11 days in the September of that year (it would have played havoc with the fixture list). It's the reason that you sometimes see two dates given for events/birthdates etc. Should we celebrate the 'signing' of Magna Carta on 19 June or the 30th?

25 March was chosen as it was Lady Day, the feast of the annunciation of the Virgin Mary (ie the day that Jesus was 'conceived'). This is traditionally seen as the start of the years AD.

It's also why the tax year starts on 6 April (5 April, the end of the old year, is 11 days after 25 March)

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