It's February already and tomorrow is Ground Hog Day! Not complaining because the air small's spring fresh and people are ready for this weather to be over. Roads reminded me of February 1978 today after the January Blizzard of 1978.
That spring like smell is natural. February is the Roman month of Purification.
Calendar Origins - Where did Calendars Begin?
Ultimately, all calendars began with people recording time by using natural cycles: days, lunar cycles (months), and solar cycles (years).
The year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds long or 365.242199 days.
The time between full moons is 29.53 days.
Various peoples have attempted to organize these cycles into calendars to keep track of time and to be able to predict future events of importance to them, such as the annual Nile flood in ancient Egypt.
The main problem is that these natural cycles do not divide evenly. So a month measured by the moon doesn't equal an even number of days, and a solar year is not equal to a certain number of moon cycles (months or "moon"ths).
Early people could either try to stay in sync with the moon, perhaps making months alternating combinations of 29 and 30 days, with special rules to resync occasionally with a solar year by adding leap months (such as the Jewish or Chinese calendar) or abandon lunar cycles and concentrate on the solar year (such as the Ancient Egyptian calendar of 12 same-sized months).
If syncing a calendar with lunar cycles is most important, we call it a lunar calendar. If syncing a calendar with the solar year, a solar calendar, and if trying to meet both needs, a lunisolar calendar (such as the Ancient Roman calendar).
Calendar Resources
Please note these are links that may be of interest to my web site readers. However, no warranty is given or implied by their inclusion here. We are not responsible for the content contained in other websites. These links are only offered as links to alternative information.
Calendar Links
2009 Calendars - view a selection of calendars for 2009 for different interests and hobbies.
Roman Calendar - Our modern calendar is closely based on that implemented by Julius Caesar during 46-45 BC, and amended by Pope Gregory XIII in AD 1582.
Calendars Though the Ages - A history of Mayan, Chinese calendars and more!
Pregnancy Calendar - Pregnancy calendar with monthly information on what to expect by trimester.
History of Calendars - Calendars and their history.
Virtual Perpetual Calendars The Virtual Perpetual Calendar site primarily presents the Gregorian Calendar System through the use of a Year Correlation table and the 14 different calendars that occur. Additional related information include information like Holidays, Quick Reference Items, Millennium Tables and Century Tables.
These have been passed down though the ages like our faith.
Time to plan the garden so we better get to that! Maybe we will have that started before the Super Bowl comes on this evening!
Have a great Sunday,
Ed Winkle
Feb is the month when I traditionally realize I have huge amount of work left to do and I haven't really accomplished much. The weather usually clears about this time and the rush begins to get the balers ready for spring.
ReplyDeleteThis year there is only one baler. My employee has gone missing and I have 400 acres to plant. Since it appears the only money to be made this year is through custom planting, I think I'll focus on that!
Poor time for an employee to not show up! Never a good time but this is bad! Custom planting has grown here, too. We are looking at an air drill to speed up planting since so many are looking at expanding cover crops.
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