DearMYRTLE's Beginning #5 Calendars & Dates

"In the year numbered 1582 AD, Pope Gregory XIII issued an edict to reform the calendar in order to correct and reduce the accumulating errors. With the newer Gregorian calendar system, leap year was added, and the new year began in the month of January instead of March. \par \par The current year, 1996, is referred to as a "leap year" because we have inserted a "leap day" to make the length 366 days rather than the usual 365 days. The official name of the "leap day" is an intercalary day (with the accent on the second syllable)." See: "The Gregorian Calendar and Leap Years" located at: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~jel/skywatch/skw9602a.htm

Naturally because we're living in an imperfect world, different countries adopted the newer calendar at different times! For instance, the Gregorian calendar began on October 5, 1582, but was not adopted by Great Britain and the American colonies until September 14, 1752.

Here are excerpts of an excellent article from the editors of the Genealogy Forum Resource Area (America Online Keyword: roots) The tables go a long way to understanding the names of days of the week and month, when deciphering old foreign language based documents.

DATES, DAYS AND MONTHS

"It's difficult to understand other languages. Even the most rudimentary things like days and dates turn into a morass if you don't understand the language. It's even worse if calendars changed! We hope to offer a little help here. The following days of the weeks and months of the year may help you translate tombstones or documentary material:

The Days of the Week

ENGLISH	GERMAN	CZECH	NORWEGIAN	WELSH	FRENCH	SPANISH
Sunday	sonntag	nedele	sondag	Dydd Sul or No Sull	dimanche	domingo
Monday	montag	pondeli	mondag	llun	lundi	lunes
Tuesday	deinstag	utery	tirsday	mawrth/fawrth	mardi	martes
Wednesday	mittwoch	streda	onsdag	mercher/fercher	mercredi	miercoles
Thursday	donnerstag	stvertek	torsday	lau	jeudi	jueves
Friday	freitag	patek	fredag	gwener/wener	vendrei	viernes
Saturday	samstag	sobota	lordag	sadwrn	samedi	sabado

Welsh does not use Sun-day as in English. Sunday would be Dydd Sul. Sunday night (Sun-night) would be Nos Sul. One also has to watch for mutations in night references to Tues-night, Wednes-night, and Fri-night which become Nos Fawrth (instead of Mawrth), Nos Fercher (instead of Mercher), and Nos Wener ( instead of Gwener).

The Months of the Year

ENGLISH	GERMAN	CZECH	NORWEGIAN	WELSH	FRENCH	SPANISH
January	januar	leden	januar	Ionawr	janvier	enero
February	februar	unor	februar	Chefror	devrier	febrero
March	maerz	mars	mars	Mawrth	mars	marzo
April	april	duben	april	Ebrill	avril	abril
May	mai	keten	mai	Mai	mai	mayo
June	juni	cerven	juni	Mehefin	juin	junio
July	juli	cervenec	juli	Gorffennaf	julliet	julio
August	august	serpen	august	Awst	aout	agosto
September	september	zari	september	Medi	septembre	septiembre
October	oktober	rijen	oktober	Hydref	octobre	octubre
November	november	listopod	novembre	Tachwedd	novembre	noviembre
December	dezember	prosinec	desember	Rhagfyr	decembre	diciembre

NOTE: Notice the obvious influence of Latin, the "language of the church," on the days of the week and month, as in March, for the god of war, Mars.

Thoughts About Calendars

In the ecclesiastical calendar, December was the tenth month, hence the names:

September (Sept=7)
October (Octo=8), etc.

The "Old Style" calendar was in effect in the British Empire before 1752, when the present calendar was adopted. The historical calendar recognized January 1 as the first day of the year, while the ecclesiastical calendar recognized March 25 as the first day. Thus, dates between th o se two days were often written with both year numbers (e.g., January 5, 1712/13). Also, the old calendar was defective by 11 days, so when the switch was made to the new calendar on September 2, 1752 dates were often made compatible with it by adding 11 d ays. Folks went to bed September 2 and woke up the next day on September 13; there was much protest against the thought of losing 11 whole days out of one's life!

Example: Under the double-dating system, George Washington was born February 11, 1731/32 ("Old Style" or "O.S."). Adjusting this to the new calendar made it February 22, 1732 ("New Style" or "N.S."). The next time somebody bemoans the fact that we aren't really celebrating George Washington's birthday on the nearest assigned Monday (as decreed by Congress) tell 'em when George was actually born:

the 11th day of the 12th month of 1731
not the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 1732! "

I hope this confusing topic doesn't throw you. I've included some excellent web site which explain the changes in calendars in more detail.

EXAMPLE: In a church christening record the cover page lists the year 1579. The entry for your ancestor says the christening took place on "the 6th day of the third month." Don't assume its the 6th of March. Type it out as the 6th day of the third month in the year 1579 until you are able to convert it to the correct date of the correct month, depending on the country your ancestor lived in.

Interactive Calendar by Ian MacInnes, Albion College http://www.albion.edu/english/calendar/
"This site is intended to replace handbooks of dates for students of English history and literature. It is also accurate for European history outside of England, with the exception of the period 1582-1752. Includes Ecclesiastical Calendar, day of the week, old & new style dating & Regnal years."

Cumberland Family Software, Universal Calendar Calculator http://www.cf-software.com/ucc.htm Note: "The Universal Calendar Calculator can display and convert between 34 different calendars."