Time systems in different countries of the world. The most famous calendars in the world

Has a very long history. He is a representative of the lunisolar calendar. As in all calendars of this type, the length of its months is alternately 29 and 30 days, every three years a 13th month is added to the Jewish calendar. This month is called Veadar; it is customary to insert it before the month of Nisan every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the 19-year cycle. Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, and the years are counted from the seventh month, called Tishri. Due to the periodic intercalation of the month Veadara, the spring equinox always falls on a lunation in the month of Nisan.

In the Hebrew calendar, there is an ordinary year, containing 12 months, and an embolismic year, the number of months in which is 13. In the embolismic year, out of the 30 days of the month of Veadara inserted before Nisan, one day is attributed to the sixth month of Adar (usually it contains 29 days), and the remaining 29 days make up the month of Veadar. In general, the Jewish calendar is a very complex calendar, like all lunisolar calendars.

Muslim calendar. Initially, the Arabs used a lunisolar calendar, which resembled the Jewish calendar. It is believed that the errors of the old calendar forced the prophet Muhammad to abandon the extra months and introduce the lunar calendar, the first year of which was 622. The year in this calendar consists of 12 months, alternately containing 29 or 30 days. The average length of the year in this calendar is 354.37 days. It is impossible to add an additional 13th month to these 12 months or an additional day to individual months to match the length of the solar year, with the exception of one extra day in leap lunar years, then the number of days increases from 354 to 355 in order for the new moon to be closer to the first day of the month. It is customary to add this extra day to the last month of the year and then the number of days in it is 30. All lunar calendars have two periods: a period of 8 years is called the “Turkish cycle”, a period of 30 years is called the “Arabic cycle”. Some countries of the East - Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, simultaneously use calendars built on both cycles. It is impossible to add an additional 13th month to these 12 months or an additional day to individual months to coordinate with the length of the solar year, with the exception of one additional day in leap lunar years, when the number of days is increased from 354 to 355 so that the new moon is located close to the first day of the month. This extra day is included in the last month of the year and then the number of days in it is 30.

In the Muslim calendar, with time, the beginning of the year moves all the time. Therefore, in the lunar calendar there are no seasons and no division of months into summer, winter, autumn and spring, due to the fact that they all fall at different times of the year. There are special tables for converting Muslim chronology systems into European ones.

Egyptian calendar. The Egyptian calendar was originally lunar. However, since the whole life of the Egyptians was closely connected with the annual floods of the Nile, they created a different calendar, focusing on the appearance of the star Saturn (it appeared regularly during the summer solstice, and soon the Nile flooded). The Egyptian solar year contained 12 months of 30 days each, and at the end of the last month there were five additional days, so that the total was 365 days. However, over time it turned out that the calendar year was a quarter of a day shorter than the solar year, and over time the calendar diverged more and more from the seasons. Observing more closely the risings of Sirius, the Egyptians came to the conclusion that 1461 Egyptian years of 365 days is equal to 1460 solar years of 365.25 days. The mistake had to be corrected. However, the Egyptian priests for a long time prevented any change in the calendar. And only in 238 BC. Ptolemy III issued a decree adding one day to every fourth year, i.e. introduced a leap year. Thus, the modern solar calendar was born.

Prehistoric Chinese calendar was lunar. Emperor Yao around 2357 BC, was dissatisfied with the existing lunar calendar, inconvenient for agriculture, and therefore ordered astronomers to determine the dates of the equinoxes and create a seasonal calendar convenient for agriculture. It was necessary to somehow coordinate the 354-day lunar calendar with the 365-day astronomical year. To resolve this situation, Chinese astronomers proposed to add 7 intercalary months every 19 years, following detailed instructions. As a result, although the solar and lunar years were basically consistent, there were still certain differences that were corrected as they reached a noticeable difference. However, the calendar was still imperfect: the years did not have the same duration, and the equinoxes fell on different dates. The year in the Chinese calendar consisted of 24 crescents. The cycle of the Chinese calendar is 60 years, and has several internal periods. Interestingly, each year of the Chinese calendar has a rather funny name, for example, “year of the cow”, “year of the tiger”, “hare”, “dragon”, etc. These years repeat with a period of 12 years. In 1911, the Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in the new Republic of China, and although the peasants continued to use the ancient lunar calendar, it was banned from 1930.

Mayan and Aztec calendars.

The ancient civilization of the Mayan tribe had a very perfect calendar containing 365 days, divided into 18 months of 20 days each, there were still 5 days that were not included in any month. There were 28 weeks in a year, each of which had 13 days; one day was too much. The Mayan calendar was much the same.

The calendar stone of the Aztecs, built on a basalt slab measuring 3.6 m, is very interesting. This stone was found in Mexico, a detachment of Cortes in 1519. In the center of the stone was depicted, surrounded by twenty days of the month, the Sun. Four large rectangles adjoined the sun, in which heads were depicted, symbolizing, apparently, the dates of the four previous world eras. The heads and symbols in the rectangles of the next circle indicate the 20 days of the month. The large triangular figures represent the rays of the sun, and the two fiery serpents at the base of the outer circle represent the heat of the heavens.

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What is the year now? This is not as simple a question as it seems. Everything is relative.
People created calendars to measure the passage of time. But time is ephemeral
cannot be caught and marked with a reference point. Therein lies the difficulty. How to find a start? Where to count? And what steps?

This article website talks about different current calendars. Calendars exist and existed much more. But even these few are enough to realize all the relativity and ephemerality of time.

2018 will come to Russia

Most countries in the world follow the Gregorian calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to replace the Julian one. The difference between these calendars is now 13 days and increases by 3 days every 400 years. Therefore, such a holiday as the Old New Year was formed - this is the New Year according to the old style, according to the Julian calendar, which continues to be celebrated out of habit in a number of countries. But no one refuses the usual New Year either.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 in Catholic countries and gradually, over several centuries, spread to other states. According to him, January 1, 2018 will come.

The year 2561 will come to Thailand

In Thailand in 2018 (according to the Gregorian calendar) the year 2561 will come. Officially, Thailand lives according to the Buddhist lunar calendar, where the chronology is from the attainment of Nirvana by the Buddha.

But the usual calendar is also in use. For foreigners, exceptions are often made and the year on goods or documents may be indicated in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Also, according to the Buddhist calendar, they live in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

2011 is coming to Ethiopia

In Japan, there is both a chronology system from the Nativity of Christ, and a traditional one, which is based on the years of the reign of Japanese emperors. Each emperor gives the name of the era - the motto of his reign.

Since 1989, in Japan, the "Era of Peace and Tranquility", the throne has been occupied by Emperor Akihito. The previous era - "The Enlightened World" - lasted 64 years. In most official documents, it is customary to use 2 dates - according to the Gregorian calendar and according to the year of the current era in Japan.

The year 4716 will come according to the Chinese calendar

Today, shortly before the new year, we would like to talk about the main calendars of the peoples of the world and the chronology systems that exist on the planet, because not everyone knows what date it is customary to celebrate this very new year, and not everyone knows which year we generally celebrate.

And there is nothing unusual that we are confused, because time is an amazing substance that cannot be touched and felt, the fourth dimension of our three-dimensional physical world. According to modern physicists - theorists, adherents of string theory, time does not exist.

But we are born, grow up, grow up, grow old and go somewhere... And our only constant companions on this planet are the measures of time - seconds, minutes, hours, years. Despite the fact that our planet is not so big, we do not yet have a single calendar - a single system of chronology.

The main existing systems of reckoning

And, if in one part of the earth it is now 2014, then in another it is already 2500, in the third the 8th millennium has come! In this article we want to talk about some of the currently existing systems of chronology among various peoples of the world. And let's start with ourselves, namely with our ancestors, calendars and chronology of the Slavic peoples.

By the way, you can also learn this information from the video on our channel in the voice acting of good speakers, so choose what is easier for you to read or watch and move on ...

Chronology and Calendars of the Slavs

Our ancestors - the Ancient Slavs used the calendar, which is now known under the name - "Slavic Aryan" or "Vedic". It is still used by Yngliists - Old Believers, representatives of the most ancient stream of Slavic Aryans.

And it’s good that they kept it, because lately, more and more people are returning to their roots and want to study and use this valuable knowledge. Moreover, they are not outdated, but on the contrary, they provide answers to many questions that interest us today.

Slavic-Aryan calendar

The Slavic Aryan calendar was officially used in Rus' for 7208 years! And time in that calendar was measured in "Circles of Life". One circle of life was equal to 144 years (as the year used to be called).

In one circle of life, our planet, which the Ancient Slavs called Mirgard, made a revolution around the center of the Universe, visiting all 16 "houses" in succession - so many constellations were distinguished by the Slavs, in contrast to the Chinese stellar calendar with its only 12 Constellation Houses.

What is the year of the Slavs now?

Now, according to the Slavic Aryan calendar, we live in 7523 years. The years are officially counted from the “Creation of the World in the Star Temple” - most sources say that there is a direct, rather than allegorical meaning here - meaning the signing of a peace treaty, between our Ancestors - representatives of the “Power of the Great Race” (Russia, Aryans) and “ Empire of the Great Dragon" (Modern China).

And the famous icon depicting, as they say, George the Victorious, killing the Dragon, actually illustrates those ancient events. Since China symbolizes a dragon or a snake.

What were the months, weeks and hours of the Slavs

Slavic-Aryan calendar calculated on the basis of the 16-digit system of calculus.

Respectively, The day of the Slavs consisted of 16 hours. They started in the evening. Each hour had its own name and was approximately equal to 90 minutes.

The month consisted of 40 days, and was called forty years.. (A reflection of this is the tradition that has survived to this day to celebrate the 40th day with the remembrance of the departed, which we have already written about separately, and 9 days exactly the same as it was Slavic week).

In addition, nine sorokovniks (months) - a whole summer (year) - is a complete cycle of our Earth's circulation around Yarila (Sun). Summer consisted of three seasons, three forties each - Spring, Winter, Autumn. Each sorokovnik had its own name and these names were very poetic and accurate:

"Fortieth White Radiance"

"Fortieth Awakening of Nature"

"Fortieth of Sowing and Naming".

Weeks in the calendar of our ancestors of the Slavs, as I said, consisted of nine days and were named after the planets of our solar system. There were even smaller parts of the measurement of time: an hour, a fraction, an instant, a moment, a sig.

To understand and admire the wisdom of our ancestors, I will say that - 1 sig is approximately equal to 30 oscillations of the electromagnetic wave of the cesium atom, taken as the basis for modern atomic clocks, and such a small fraction still does not exist in more than one clock in the world.

This fact alone shows how distorted the truth is by those who seek to show our ancient ancestors as illiterate savages!

Gregorian and Julian calendars

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar was introduced by Gaius Julius Caesar himself, the great commander and ruler of Rome. And it happened in 45 BC. With the introduction of Christianity into Russia by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the Grand Duke, approximately in the year 1000, the Julian calendar also began to spread widely among the Slavic peoples and was used simultaneously with the Vedic.

All holidays of the Orthodox Church are calculated from that time to this day according to church calendar- The Julian calendar.

Moreover, modern astronomers have recognized that the Julian calendar (old style) is actually more accurate from an astronomical point of view than the widely used Gregorian (new style), since it lags less behind astronomical (natural) cycles.

Gregorian calendar. New and modern chronology

So, in the summer of 7208, Peter the Great issues a Decree, according to which, on the territory of Rus', all previously existing calendars are abolished and the new chronology will start from the Nativity of Christ, then the year was 1700.

Why New Year's Day January 1st

The beginning of the year began to be celebrated on January 1, instead of the magical day of the autumn equinox, as was the case with the Slavs. This calendar is called the Gregorian calendar in honor of Pope Gregory 13, and is valid both in Europe and in the territories of the countries of the former USSR and in many other countries of the world, for the convenience of people.

Have you ever wondered why the beginning of the year is celebrated on January 1st? On December 24, the entire Catholic world celebrates Christmas - the birthday of the baby Jesus. It is from this day that the current calendar begins.

Jesus was a Jew, and on the 8th day the Jews celebrate the rite of circumcision of male babies. This day was the transition from the old year to the new year! It is amazing that every year, gathering with loved ones around the New Year's table, we celebrate the Jewish rite of circumcision of the baby Jesus! But what is interesting is that in fact the Jews themselves have and widely use their own Jewish calendar.

Hebrew or Judaic calendar

The chronology according to the Jewish calendar is conducted from the creation of the world by the Lord. Which, according to the beliefs of the Jews, took place on October 7, 3761 BC - which is called Era from Adam.

The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. That is, both celestial bodies exert their influence on the length of the year. The average year is approximately equal to the Gregorian, but sometimes the values ​​\u200b\u200bcan fluctuate, and the difference is 30-40 days.

Another interesting point is that the Jewish calendar does not consist of numbers, but the letters of the alphabet are used. And it is read from right to left, like all books in Hebrew. Each month of the Jewish calendar has a zodiac sign.

Since ancient times, it has been customary to designate the 12 signs of the zodiac with the symbols of its constellations. Months are counted from spring, but New Year begins in autumn and is called Rosh Hashanah. In the evening, when three stars are visible in the sky, a new day begins.

Islamic calendar

In most countries whose dominant religion is Islam, there is a calendar - Islamic or Hijri. It is used both for religious purposes and as the main determinant of time.

Islamic is a purely lunar calendar. The beginning of the month is a new moon, the week also consists of seven days, but the day off is Friday, there are only 12 months in a year.

The Muslim calendar is based on the year when the Prophet Muhammad made the Hajj from Mecca to Medina. (It was July 16, 622 Gregorian).

What year is it in the islamic calendar

Therefore, the Muslim New Year begins on the 1st of the month of Muharram. October 26, 2014 according to the Gregorian calendar 1436 Islamic calendar.

Islamic New Year is not a holiday in our understanding. On the eve of the evening, it is best for the faithful to fast, and on spend as much time as possible in prayers and good deeds in the name of the Almighty.

Oriental or Chinese calendar

In most countries of the Asian world, despite the official operation of the Gregorian calendar, the majority of the population uses the chronology system created several thousand years ago (approximately 3 thousand years BC) during the reign of Emperor Huang Di.

And its distinctive feature is that it is both solar-lunar. That is, all months begin with the beginning of a new moon.

When is Chinese New Year 2015?

New Year according to the Eastern calendar is celebrated on The second new moon after the winter solstice is between January 21st and February 21st.. And the New Year is a big and noisy holiday, with bright lights, firecrackers, festive processions and a lot of noise.

The Chinese calendar system is based on the astronomical cycles of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The 60-year cycle includes a 12-year Jupiter cycle and a 30-year Saturn cycle.

The ancient Asians and the creators of this chronology system believed that the normal movement of Jupiter brings happiness, goodness and virtue.

They divided the path of Jupiter into twelve equal parts and gave them the name of a certain animal, thus the peoples of Asia created solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle.

There is a legend according to which, when the Buddha decided to celebrate the first New Year, he invited all the animals living on earth. However, only 12 came to the holiday. Then the Buddha, as a gift, decided to give their names to the years, so that every person born in the year of a certain animal acquires the character traits of this animal, both good and bad.

For example, now, December 11, 2014, is the year of the Blue Wood Horse, and c On February 19, 2015, the Year of the Blue Wood Goat will begin..

Thai calendar

When travelers first come to the countries of the south - east Asia. They see with amazement that the term on the packaging of goods has long exceeded the middle of the third millennium.

What year is it in Thailand?

This is true, in the Kingdom of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and some other countries in 2015 will come - the year 2558! The chronology in these countries and among many Buddhists is from the day of Buddha Shakyamuni's departure to nirvana. Welcome to the future!

Moreover, almost every world religion created its own calendar, from events that people wanted to perpetuate. So, for example, representatives of a fairly common religion at the present time - the Baha'is - created their own calendar.

Baha'i calendar

The Baha'i calendar is currently synchronized with the Gregorian calendar for convenience. It was originally introduced by the Báb. Nowruz - the first day of the New Year is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox (March 20-22).

The Baha'i calendar is based on a solar year of 365 days, 5 hours, and 50 incremental minutes. In the Baha'i calendar, a year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i.e. 361 days in total) with the addition of four (five in a leap year) days.

Celtic calendar (Irish)

For a long time, it was the Irish calendar that was used in the North Scandinavian countries, as well as in modern Ireland. The year was divided into four seasons. There are 13 months and one day in a year. Months are synchronized according to the lunar cycle. The names of the months correspond to the vowels of Ogham, the Celtic tree alphabet.

That is, this is the famous Druid calendar - a very complex system where the calculation of time takes into account both lunar and solar cycles.

Segments of time, approximately equal to our months, were given the names of trees. The biggest holidays were the days of equinox and solstice. However, about the Celtic calendar, modern researchers are hotly debating. Many scholars believe that the information about the Druid Calendar is based on a misconception by several authors whose writings have become too widely circulated.

We do not undertake to judge, we just want to acquaint the reader with some of the existing or existing systems of chronology.

In an article devoted to world chronology systems, it is impossible to keep silent about the famous "Mayan Calendar".

Mayan calendar

We owe the popularization of knowledge about the Mayan Indian tribes, not least, to the mystic and novelist Frank Waters, the author of many novels and the ancient civilizations of the Maya, the inhabitants of Central America who have gone into centuries.

The main book about the Mayan calendar, which also touches on the predictions of the ancient Mayan astrologers, was the "Book of the Hopi". An equally important role was played by “Mysticism of Mexico: The Coming of the Sixth Age of Consciousness” - this is an unusual mixture of Mayan and Aztec philosophy, where the author suggested that the end of the Mayan calendar will be the backdrop for the transformation of the spiritual consciousness of people around the world.

However, people have chosen to simplify the information presented in the book, perhaps for the sake of sensation, perhaps due to misunderstanding. And so the legend was born, according to which the Mayan Indians predicted the end of the world in 2012, and the Mayan calendar ended on this date.

On the contrary, scientists, researchers of this ancient artifact, say that the Mayan calendar has not yet been deciphered! The information contained in it may not even belong to the Mayan civilization, but is much older. And scientists all over the world are working on the code of this calendar.

Almost any calendar is a mathematical system, Russian mathematician Vladimir Pakhomov, published a book: “ The calendar is a coded message”, which simply stirred up public opinion.

The fact is that the author, with the help of knowledge of mathematical laws, managed to present the calendar as a numerical mathematical matrix. With the help of which you can "decipher" the messages contained in ancient calendars. The scientist is sure that these messages hide the knowledge that was saved for us by our ancient ancestors who came from distant planets.

But whether it is true or not, today we will not tell you, since this is a separate and very long story, which we will gradually tell about on our learning and self-development portal over time. And today we say goodbye to you, we wish you a good New Year, no matter what calendar and chronology system you do it, and next time we will tell you how it is customary to celebrate the New Year among other peoples of the world.

And of course, do not forget to subscribe and watch our video channel for learning and self-development, where every day we publish new interesting and useful videos on dozens of topics related to health, sports, business, travel and self-development. For example, we advise you to watch why events in a person's life are often repeated, as well as dozens of other interesting and useful videos about self-development.

The calendar is a rhythm that is designed to unite the outer universe with the inner man into a kind of harmonious whole. The attitude to time testifies not only to a certain level of culture, but also is an expression of those internal features that distinguish one culture from another. Naturally, the attitude to time within a single culture affects, first of all, the calendar. However, the calendar is not only a rhythm, but also a rhythmic memory of mankind. Even the most ancient of calendars, such as the solar calendar of Ancient Egypt or the solar-lunar calendar of Babylon with their periodically repeating cycles of religious holidays, have always pursued one important goal: to be, first of all, reliable keepers of the memory of what lay at the root of each of cultures. Jewish calendar- is a religious calendar and the official calendar of Israel. This is a combined solar-lunar calendar. Years are calculated from the creation of the world, which according to Judaism took place in 3761 BC. This year corresponds to the year of the world (Anno Mundi) the first. For example, 1996 corresponds to the Jewish year 5757.
Eastern (Chinese) calendar, which has been in force for several thousand years in Vietnam, Kampuchea, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan and some other Asian countries, was compiled in times in the middle of the third millennium BC. This calendar is a 60-year cyclical system.
The Chinese sixty-year-old was formed as a result of the combination of the duodecimal cycle (“earthly branches”), for each year of which the name of the animal was assigned, and the decimal cycle of the “elements” (“heavenly branches”): five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) , each of which corresponded to two cyclic signs, personifying the male and female principles (therefore, in the Chinese calendar there are consecutive years corresponding to different animals, but one element). The Chinese calendar does not count years in an endless sequence. Years have names that repeat every 60 years. Historically, years were counted from the year of the emperor's accession to the throne, which was abolished after the 1911 revolution. According to Chinese tradition, the first year of the reign of the semi-legendary Yellow Emperor Huang Di was 2698 BC. The alternative system is based on the fact that the first historical record of the beginning of the 60-day cycle was made on March 8, 2637 BC.
This date is considered the date of invention of the calendar, and all cycles are counted from this date. Timekeeping in Japan is a Chinese invention. Each emperor, ascending the throne, approved the motto under which his reign would pass. In ancient times, the emperor sometimes changed the motto if the beginning of the reign was unsuccessful.
In any case, the beginning of the emperor's motto was considered the first year of the new reign, and a new era began with it - the period of reign under this motto. All mottos are unique, so they can be used as a universal time scale. During the Meiji Restoration (1868), a unified Japanese chronology system was introduced, dating back to 660 BC. - the legendary date of the founding of the Japanese state by Emperor Jimmu. This system was actively used only until the end of the Second World War. Long term isolation Indian Principalities from each other led to the fact that almost each of them had its own local calendar system. Until recently, several official civil calendars and about thirty local calendars were used in the country, which served to determine the time of various religious holidays and ceremonies. Among them you can find solar, lunar and lunisolar.
The most popular in India is the Samvat calendar (vikram samvat), in which the length of the solar year is to some extent related to the length of the lunar months. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book The Discovery of India, written in 1944, points to the widespread use of the Samvat calendar. He wrote that "in most parts of India, the vikram samvat calendar is followed." In April 1944, celebrations dedicated to the Samvat calendar were widely celebrated throughout India. They were associated with the 2000th anniversary of the introduction of the Vikram Samvat era at that time. Since the Vikram Samvat era starts from 57 BC, therefore, the year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 2067-2068 of the Samvat calendar. In the southern part of the country, the Saka civil calendar is widely used, in which the counting of years begins on March 15, 78 AD. The New Year is celebrated on it around April 12 with a discrepancy of two to three days. The year 2010 of our calendar corresponds to the years 1932-1933 of the Saka calendar. In India, other eras were also used for a long time, such as the era of Kali Yuga, which dates back to February 18, 3102 BC; the era of Nirvana, which has been counting since 543 BC. - the estimated date of death of the Buddha Sakya Muni. The Fazli era was also used - one of the last historical eras in India. It was introduced by the padishah Akbar (1542-1606), but it was used only in official documents. The epoch of this era is the date September 10, 1550 AD. The Gregorian calendar, which began to be used in India since 1757, is also widely used. At present, almost all published books, magazines and newspapers are dated by the Gregorian calendar, but double dating is common: according to the Gregorian calendar and according to the local civil one. The complexity of the calendar systems turned out to be so significant that the government of India was forced to reform and introduce a single national calendar. For this purpose, in November 1952, under the chairmanship of the greatest scientist, Professor Meghnad Saha, a special committee for the reform of the calendar was created. By decision of the government, it was adopted in India on March 22, 1957 for civil and public purposes. To perform religious rites, it was not forbidden to use local calendars. Mayan calendar originates from the mythical date - August 13, 3113 BC. It was from her that the Indians counted the past years and days. The starting point plays the same role for the Maya as the date of the "Christmas" in the European chronology. Why precisely August 13, 3113 BC? Modern science has not yet been able to explain this. Presumably this day, in the views of the Mayans, was marked by a cataclysm such as the Flood or something like that. In the Mayan calendar, time is divided into cycles or "Suns". There are six in total. Each cycle, the Mayan priests claimed, ends with the alleged complete destruction of the earth's civilization. The past four "Suns" completely destroyed the four human races, and only a few people survived and told what happened. The "First Sun" lasted 4008 years and ended with earthquakes. The "Second Sun" lasted 4010 years and ended with hurricanes. The "Third Sun" totaled 4081 years - the earth was destroyed by "fiery rains" that poured from the craters of huge volcanoes. The "Fourth Sun" was crowned with floods. At present, earthlings are experiencing the "Fifth Sun", the end of which will be on December 21, 2012. The sixth cycle in the calendar is empty...
Already in the first centuries of formation Christianity attempts were made to bridge the chronological gap between modernity and the sacred events described in the Bible. As a result of the calculations, about 200 different versions of the era “from the creation of the world”, or “from Adam”, appeared, in which the period of time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ ranged from 3483 to 6984 years. Three so-called world eras became most widespread: Alexandrian (starting point - 5501, in fact 5493 BC), Antioch (5969 BC) and later Byzantine. In the 6th century, the world era began to be used in Byzantium with the beginning of March 1, 5508 BC. The number of days in it was conducted from Adam, who, based on biblical premises, was created on Friday, March 1, 1 of this era. Based on the fact that this happened in the middle of the sixth day of creation, by analogy it was assumed that Jesus was born in the middle of the sixth millennium, for “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Pet. 3, 8).
In the Nile Valley, where a calendar was created in time immemorial, which existed with Egyptian culture about 4 centuries. The origin of this calendar is associated with Sirius - the brightest star in the sky, sung by many poets. So, Sirius gave Egypt the world's first solar calendar, which underlies the chronology of the entire Old World, up to the present. The fact is that the time interval between the first two morning sunrises of Sirius, which equally coincided in Egypt with the summer solstice and the flood of the Nile, is just 365 and 1/4 days, well known to us. However, the Egyptians set an integer number of days as the length of their year, namely 365. Thus, for every 4 years, seasonal phenomena were ahead of the Egyptian calendar by 1 day. Obviously, in order for Sirius to go through all the dates of the shortened year (out of 365 days), it took already 365 × 4 = 1460 days. But again, bearing in mind that the Egyptian year is shorter than the solar year by 1/4 day (6 hours), then in order to return exactly to the same date of the Egyptian calendar, Sirius needed one more year (1460+1=1461). This cyclical period in 1461 Egyptian year is the famous "Sotic period" (Great Year of Sothis).
ancient greek calendar was lunisolar with primitive and irregular intercalation rules. From about 500 B.C. Octateria (octaeteris) - 8-year cycles, in which five ordinary years of 12 months were combined with three years of 13 months, became widespread. Subsequently, these rules were borrowed by the Roman calendar. Octateries in Greece continued to be used even after Julius Caesar's reform. The beginning of the year was in the middle of summer.
In the second half of the 3rd century BC. e. Ancient Greek historian Timaeus and mathematician Eratosthenes introduced the chronology from the first Olympic Games. The games were held once every four years on days close to the summer solstice. They began on the 11th and ended on the 16th day after the new moon. When counting years for the Olympiads, each year was designated by the serial number of the games and the number of the year in the four years. The first Olympic Games opened on July 1, 776 BC. according to the Julian calendar. In 394 AD Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games. The Romans called them "otium graecum" (Greek idleness). However, the chronology according to the Olympiads was preserved for some time. Why is the old style called Julian? The first attempt to reform the ancient Egyptian calendar was made long before Julius Caesar by Ptolemy III Euergetes, who in his famous Canopic Decree (238 BC) first introduced the concept of a leap year, thereby equalizing the error of 1 day for 4 years. Thus, one year out of four became equal to 366 days. Unfortunately, this reform did not take root then: firstly, the concept of a leap year was completely alien to the very spirit of the centuries-old Egyptian time reckoning, and secondly, the ancient traditions were still too strong.
Only in the era of Roman domination, the Great Year of Sothis, already known to us, ceased to exist as a real calendar-astronomical measure. Gaius Julius Caesar, with the help of the famous Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, replaced the Roman calendar with the reformed Egyptian calendar of the Canopic Decree. In 46 B.C. Rome, with all its possessions, moved to a new calendar account, which has since received the name Julian. It was this calendar that became the basis of the history of Christian culture. The Julian calendar was not accurate enough and gave an error of 1 day in 128 years. In 1582, the spring equinox moved back by (1582-325)/128 = 10 days. Because of the importance of this holiday for Christendom, the Catholic Church was convinced of the need for a calendar reform. Pope Gregory XIII, who came in 1572, reformed the calendar on February 24, 1582. All Christians were commanded to count October 5, 1582 as October 15. The calendar is named Gregorian.
OMAR 1 (581-644, reign 634-644), the second of the "righteous" Caliphs of the Arab Caliphate, introduces Muslim (Islamic) calendar. Prior to this, the Arab tribes reckoned from the "Era of the Elephants" - 570, associated with the invasion of the Ethiopian army on Mecca. The beginning of this calendar (chronology) is from Friday June 16, 622, when Muhammad (Muhammad, Mohammed, who lived in Arabia ≈570 -632) migrated (Arab. - Hijra) from Mecca to Medina. Therefore, in Muslim countries, the calendar is called the Hijri calendar (Arab. الـتـقـويم الـهـجـري‎‎, at-takwimu-l-Hijri).
French Revolution Calendar(or republican) was introduced in France on November 24, 1793 and abolished on January 1, 1806. It was used briefly again during the Paris Commune in 1871. The years are reckoned from the establishment of the first French Republic on September 22, 1792. This day became 1 Vendémière of the 1st year of the Republic (although the calendar was only introduced on November 24, 1793). Calendar of the ancient Slavs It was called Kolyada's gift - the Gift of God Kolyada. Kolyada is one of the names of the Sun. After the winter solstice on December 22, the god Kolyada is a symbol of the change in the annual cycle of the solstice and the transition of the sun from winter to summer, the victory of good forces over evil ones.
The beginning of the chronology was conducted from the date of the creation of the world in the Star Temple, that is, the signing of a peace treaty in the summer of the Star Temple according to the Krugolet (calendar) of Numbers God after the victory of the Aryans (in the modern sense - Russia) over the empire of the Great Dragon (in modern - China). The symbol of this victory, the horseman slaying the Chinese dragon, is still preserved. In the original version, this is Perun slaying the dragon, and with the advent of Christianization, Perun (the rider) was called George.
Before the adoption of Christianity, time was counted according to the four seasons of the year. The beginning of the year was spring, and the most important season was probably considered summer. Therefore, the second semantic meaning of the word "summer" as a synonym for the year has come down to us from the depths of centuries. The ancient Slavs also used the lunisolar calendar, in which every 19 years they contained seven additional months. There was also a seven-day week, which was called the week. The end of the 10th century was marked by the transition in Ancient Rus' to Christianity. The appearance of the Julian calendar is also associated with this event. The trade and political relations of Rus' with Byzantium led to the adoption of Christianity and the Julian chronology according to the Byzantine model, but with some deviation. There the year began on September 1st. In Rus', according to ancient tradition, spring was considered the beginning of the year, and the year began on March 1. The chronology was conducted “from the creation of the world”, adopting the Byzantine version of this mythical date - 5508 BC. e. Only in 1492 AD. e. (in 7001 from the creation of the world) the beginning of the year in Rus' was established on September 1. In view of the expiration of the seventh thousand years “from the creation of the world” and the religious and mystical interpretation of this period, and possibly in connection with the capture by the Turks in 1453 of Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity, superstitious rumors spread around the world about the end of the world coming in 7000 . After this fatal line had been safely passed, and the superstitious people had calmed down, the Moscow Church Council immediately in September 1492 (in 7001) moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to September 1. From the decree Petra 1 dated December 20, 7208 from the creation of the world: “Now the year 1699 comes from the Nativity of Christ, and from the next Genvar (January) from the 1st day there will be a new year 1700 and a new century. From now on, count summer not from September 1, but from January 1, and not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ. The year 7208 from the "creation of the world" turned out to be the shortest and lasted only four months, while in Rus' in 1699 the new year met twice - on August 31 and December 31. In 1702, the first Russian printed calendar was printed in Amsterdam with the beginning of the year on January 1 and the counting of years from the "Christmas". In the same way, with his characteristic meticulousness, Peter described in detail how to decorate the dwelling and celebrate the holiday. “Because in Russia they consider the New Year in different ways, from now on stop fooling people's heads and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of a good undertaking and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing well-being in business and prosperity in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, ride sleds from the mountains. And for adults, drunkenness and massacre should not be committed - there are enough other days for that. ”
And Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar only in 1918 - almost 350 years after Europe. An amendment of 13 days was introduced: after January 31, 1918, February 14 immediately came. But the Orthodox Church still celebrates its holidays according to the Julian calendar, which is why we celebrate Christmas not on December 25, but on January 7, and from 2100, if the church does not switch to the Gregorian calendar, the difference will increase to 14 days and Orthodox Christmas will automatically " rescheduled to January 8th. The churches that set the calendar according to the solar cycles have gone too far. From all this, we should remember that 310 years ago the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1, and after 90 years Christmas will be celebrated a day later. In the meantime, we live and rejoice that soon there will be the most fun holiday - the New Year, and Santa Claus will bring us a bunch of gifts. Happy New Year!

And quite recently, lovers of mysticism almost verbatim repeated the disgruntled princess, making sure how cruelly they were “cheated” by the calendar of the Mayan Indians that came into a fleeting fashion. The doomsday with cosmic cataclysms predicted for December 21, 2012 has successfully failed. True, this ancient calendar did not seem to promise anything similar: by that time, the next of its "big" - five thousand-year - cycles had simply expired and a new one had begun. But if someone wants to “visit fatal moments”, why not believe in such nonsense?

Longer than an era lasts a day

Any calendar is based on the movement of celestial bodies. People have been using the sun, moon and stars to tell time since time immemorial. Primitive hunter-gatherers perfectly understood what a solar day was, and even millions of years before that, their future victims “mastered the topic”. With the advent of cultivated agriculture and the first city-states, the need arose not just to guess from a variety of disparate signs when a herd of mammoths would again wander into the neighborhood, but to accurately determine “the time to plant and the time to uproot what was planted,” as Ecclesiastes said. Indeed, it is easy to be deceived in signs visible on earth, and the stars, although you cannot touch them with your hand, behave much more reliably. In the end, skillful priests - the first intellectuals of mankind - having mastered the intricacies of astronomy, began to develop complex calendar systems covering larger periods.

Of course, everywhere they did this regardless of their near, distant and completely unknown brethren, each according to his own conviction. It is not surprising that the traditional calendars of different peoples not only differ radically in the primary reference point (from what, in fact, the moment “our world began”, therefore, its time was born), but sometimes, quite noticeably, in the number and duration of months in a year, even the length of the year itself. For example, for residents of hot countries, where nature does not have four seasons, as in temperate latitudes, but in fact only two, it is not so important to accurately determine the dates for the change of these seasons. However, the inextricable link between calendar calculations and housekeeping is shown by the very origin of the word: calendarium in Latin - “book of tax payments”.

Moreover, some sages preferred to "dance" from the Sun, others - from shorter lunar cycles (because, in particular, Christians believe that 1392 years have passed since the original date of the Islamic calendar - the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina - to this day, 1392 years have passed, and the Muslims themselves are already 1436 years old). Still others tried to somehow link the speed of the day and night luminaries.

"Retro plus" and "retro minus"

Other incidents are less connected with astronomy or have nothing to do with it at all. So, there is no agreement in the chronologies leading from one common mark - the creation of the world by the One God of the Jews, that is, the God-Father of Christians. According to the ancient Orthodox tradition, the year 7522 has recently begun in our country, in Israel it is the 5575th, the Catholics have a more modest account of a thousand or two years. Well, at least believers do not have to argue about all other circumstances of the most important event.

But the absolute champions in the nomination "retro plus" are Hindus. According to their concepts, the creator Brahma is given exactly a century; He is now half way through his life. There are, as expected, 360 days in a year, but these days - 4.3 billion of our years - are slightly less than the age of the Earth! If we continue the recalculation, then it turns out that the whole Universe with its Big Bang is not even a baby, but just some kind of ciliate shoe.

An amusing example of the opposite approach to history is the modern research of the academician from mathematics Anatoly Fomenko with a support group. According to their "New Chronology", which rejects any data from archeology, the "only reliable" history of mankind has no more than 700 years. Everything was mixed up: Veliky Novgorod and Yaroslavl are one and the same city, like Rome and Jerusalem. Batu Khan was a born Russian, but at the same time a Lithuanian prince Gediminas, and in addition Ivan the Terrible and St. Basil the Blessed... not so much a new faith as the production technology of the famous Russian vodka. Well, everything else that is taught in school is just an invention of Western slanderers who dream of belittling Russia.

Still, she spins ... somehow not so

It is customary to call the Orthodox time book Julian, since it was compiled in the homeland of Mediterranean astronomy, in Egypt, at the behest of Julius Caesar. He began to act in 45 BC. e., or in 708 from the foundation of the City (the latter served as the date of the "beginning of time" among the ancient Romans).

However, less than a millennium and a half later, it became clear that the calendar was more and more “behind the times”. Since the duration of the year in it is 11 minutes longer than the real astronomical one, for every 128 years of the Julian calendar, an extra day is added to the year. That is why important church holidays began to steadily "move out" away from astronomical facts. For example, on the day of Easter, the first ray of the sun stubbornly refused to illuminate, as it was prescribed, the mosaic in the main Roman Cathedral of St. Peter. Christmas, which once approximately coincided with the winter solstice, was eager to escape closer to the warmth of spring, and there were no less embarrassing things...

Once again, astronomers sat down for calculations. As a result of their hard work, Pope Gregory XIII acted not simply, but very simply: he ordered to count the day following October 4, 1582, not as the fifth number, but immediately as the fifteenth. The "new style" calendar was named after this high priest. The Gregorians will not wait long for their own daily error: extra days in this calendar accumulate over 10 thousand years.

Pluralism in one calendar

It is curious that the same decree, only about January 31 and February 14, was issued 326 years later by the zealous persecutor of all religions Vladimir Lenin. Thus, the Republic of Soviets was integrated into the "earthly" time, while the Russian Church continued to live and celebrate according to the precepts of Caesar. And he does it - in company with Serbian, Georgian, Polish and a small part of the Greek brothers in faith - to this day.

At first glance, it would seem a paradox: for centuries, some Christians have rejected the technical innovation of others, but stubbornly adhere to the system introduced God knows when by a pagan pantheist. However, social psychologists have an explanation for this strangeness: against brothers declared apostates from the true faith, whatever it may be, any claims are always sharper than against strangers, born of this doctrine did not know.

Therefore, on Orthodox sites, statements are not uncommon that, they say, in fact, the old style is more accurate and correct than the Gregorian, and not vice versa. And the Russian Federation now has a lot of "pluralism in one calendar": the public holiday of Christmas is celebrated not before the same official New Year's holiday, but already next year, as if retroactively.

Rat vs Rabbit

Exotic calendars, like the same Indian or Hindu ones, often have a complex structure, which is why they are of little interest to most unaccustomed Europeans.

But there is an exception among them: the Chinese or, more broadly speaking, the East Asian calendar. In Russia, over the past 25 years, it has gained truly nationwide popularity due to its relative simplicity, and most importantly, colorful images of a dozen "zodiacal" animals, which gave rise to a lot of funny pictures and home-grown horoscopes. We multiply this colorful collection by five elements marked with different colors: this is how a complete 60-year cycle is formed. For example, the full name of 2015 is the year of the Green Wood Goat.

At the origins of this system is an ancient legend about how the supreme god, either the Buddha or the Jade Emperor of the Taoists, chose "rulers" for each year. The cunning Rat was the first to run and, in addition, conquered the deity by playing the flute, so that she got the right to open each cycle. The “closing” Pig was simply requisitioned from the first peasant he met on the way to the market, when God missed the twelfth character. It turns out that the old friend of the Rat, the favorite of the “qualifying competitions” the Cat, shamefully overslept the appointed time: she deliberately did not wake up the competitor. That is why now these animals are in irreconcilable enmity ...

However, not everything is so simple: in the Vietnamese version of the calendar, the Cat was for some reason “regretted”, it is he who appears in the usual place of the Rabbit. And another pluralism has settled in European heads: here the “animal” years are announced right from January 1, although according to the eastern canon, the date of their arrival is February, sometimes exceeding the middle.

The inhabitants of Asia itself sometimes treat their calendar traditions with a seriousness unusual for a European. In Japan, it is not easy for girls born in the year of the Red (Fiery) Horse even today to find a husband of their own liking: most potential suitors run away from the “alarming” sign.

Wherever, when and by whom the chronology was compiled - it is not as accurate as we used to think. This is precisely what modern science never ceases to remind us of: no attempt to comprehend the passage of time using a chronograph can be absolutely reliable.

Nevertheless, neither our workdays nor holidays can do without a calendar. Only to adapt it to fantasies about the numbers of the "new history" or, conversely, about the "end of the world", as all the experience of the past shows, is not the smartest and most useful undertaking.

Three types

With all the richness of choice, most current and ancient calendars fall into one of three categories. The lunar ones are tied to the phases of the moon and do not depend on the daylight - the same month can fall in spring and autumn. The lunisolar calendar also “dances” from the phases of our neighbor, but amendments are made to it with a certain frequency, returning the beginning of the year to the season where it is supposed to be within the framework of this system. Finally, the solar calendar is completely independent of the moon.

The ritual calendars of the American Indians stand apart with their complex system of cycles of different dimensions, the roots of which go deep into the religious and mystical jungle. We emphasize: it is ritual. For practical purposes, both the Maya and the Incas still used solar calendars.

February 30

Such an unusual day was in Sweden in 1712. King Charles XII in 1699 decided to transfer the country from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, but not all at once, but gradually - without adding days to leap years for 40 years. This decision proved difficult to implement because of the confusion it caused. Therefore, having skipped the leap year in 1700, the Swedes still added an extra day in 1704 and 1708. As a result, Sweden lived according to its own calendar for 12 years: a day ahead of Russia and 10 days behind the rest of Europe. By 1712, Charles was tired of this strange situation, and he returned to the Julian calendar, adding two days to February at once.

Divergence in time

The inhabitants of medieval Iran, who professed Zoroastrianism before the Arab conquest, had their own lunisolar calendar. The year in it consisted of 12 months of 30 days and five additional days. This system gave a noticeable error over time, and to compensate for it, an additional month was introduced once every 120 years. The chronology was carried out according to the years of the reign of the next shah. After the Arab invasion and the death of the last Sasanian Shah Yazdegerd III, his accession on June 16, 632 forever remained the "beginning of time", and part of his fellow believers, fearing persecution, moved to India. Subsequent generations forgot about the insertion of an additional month, and this happened at different times among the Indian and Persian communities. As a result, their calendars have diverged by about a month, and the New Year, which originally fell on the spring equinox, is now celebrated in the summer.