We just finished celebrating Christmas and now
we will celebrate the New Year, January 1st…right? Not so fast; I
just discovered that January 1st is actually January 14th! Who knew?
Actually, January 1st on the Julian calendar is really January 14th
on the Gregorian calendar…the one we use every day. Until I did some
research I didn’t realize that the WAR, about which calendar to use,
has been raging since about 46BC. Earlier than that, pretty much
every country, province, city, town and even settlements had their
own way of determining calendar dates. Major countries (or empires)
listed dates using regional years; basing dates on the reign of a
monarch or king. Examples in the ancient nation of Israel would be;
“In the Tenth Year of King David”…or… “In the Fourth
Year of King Solomon.” Of course, that system required an
accurate List of Kings to be available for all dating of events and
documents. Adding to the problem was war; when one group conquered
another, they forced their calendar on the defeated group. A similar
problem existed with the dividing of the length of a day into
measurable units. But, that is research for another day.
You can imagine the calendar confusion when the
Roman Empire began to spread across most of the civilized
world. The Romans, being the most powerful and most organized during
their hey-day, mandated the Julian calendar (of Julius Caesar fame)
in all of their territories beginning on January 1, 46BC. Prior to
Caesar’s brilliant idea the Romans had used the system… A. U.
C., (also listed as AUC, or a.u.c.); also called "anno urbis,"
in which dates were determined using the founding of Rome
as the starting date.
I couldn’t find a verifiable reason that the
birth of Christ was chosen as the event to divide the Old Time
from the New Time. Some important guy in the 6th
century decided that the Julian calendar needed to be reorganized
around Christ’s birth. He computed back those hundreds of years and
used that event to set a new starting point for the calendar…Year 1,
calling it A.D., anno domini (meaning “in the year of the
Lord”—the year Jesus was born). The problem was that his
calculations were off by several years. Also he did not set a Year
Zero. Historical records and the Bible tell us that Herod was King
when Jesus was born (Luke 1:5). And, according to the New Testament
(Matthew 2:16) Jesus was about two years old when the wise men got
to Bethlehem to deliver their gifts. Well, since history records
that Herod died in 4BC and he was still alive when Jesus was two
years old, that means Jesus was most likely born in 6BC or maybe a
little earlier.
Having said all that let me address January 1st
vs January 14th. Well, Julian astronomers thought the
changing rotation of the Earth around the Sun caused the time
to lose one day every 128 years. However, when astronomers checked
the readings again in later centuries they discovered that time
loses one day, only every 3,236 years. That meant that the Julian
calendar guys had added too many leap years to try to correct their
dates….actually 13 too many. So, on January 1st on the Julian
calendar you need to add 13 days (January 14th) to be on the correct
day on our current calendar. I guess a less-confusing way to say it
is…on our calendar's January 1st the Julian calendar date would only
be December 17th.
The calendar today, in 99% of the world, is the
Gregorian calendar. It is today's internationally accepted civil
calendar and is also known as the "Western calendar" or "Christian
calendar". It was named after the man who first introduced it in
February 1582: Pope Gregory XIII. But, what Pope Gregory and all of
those scientists before him failed to do is help us figure out what
important stuff to put on our calendars and what really
doesn’t matter. Imagine all of the fighting, arguing and even
some blood-shed over what calendar to use and still we have a
general apathetic attitude about the importance of time and how to
use that precious commodity. We know that we only have so much
time left on this Earth. We often say that we don’t have time
for this or that. We see people who seem to accomplish so much in
their life and we ask, “Where does he find the time?”
In the Old Testament we find the record of when
David was King of Israel. In his later years he sensed that time was
slipping away from him too. He prayed this short prayer in
Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a
heart of wisdom.” So, that is my prayer for all of you, that in 2016
you will have WISDOM and consider the time you MAY
have left and use it more wisely than ever before. I encourage you
to use it to make a difference in someone else’s life, to make
memories with your family and to leave a legacy, confirming that you
left your mark on this Earth…that your life mattered.
Have a blessed 2016.
Max Holt, Class 02-67, Association Chaplain
|