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Calendar History. What is the calendar?. The calendar is a system of arranging the year into days, weeks and months. No one knows who invented the first calendar. No one knows when the first calendar was invented. Notched bones recording moon phases have been found in Africa and Europe.
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Calendar History
What is the calendar? The calendar is a system of arranging the year into days, weeks and months.
No one knows who invented the first calendar. No one knows when the first calendar was invented. Notched bones recording moon phases have been found in Africa and Europe. They are from 20,500 B. C. WOW, that’s old!
Chinese calendar There are over 30 different calendars used in the world today!
So how did we get the calendar we use today?
The Egyptians based their calendar on the sun because of their belief in the sun god Ra.
Julius Cesar was a famous Roman Emperor. He wanted a new calendar for his empire. He picked the Egyptian calendar and changed it a little bit.
Julius Caesar expanded the Roman empire until it covered parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. As the empire grew, the calendar went with it. That is why European countries use this calendar.
The USA was settled by European colonists who brought the calendar with them.
Names of the Months
Julius Caesar named the months of the year. January- the Roman god Janus February- the Roman purification festival Februa March- the Roman god Mars April- the old Roman calendar month of Aprilis May- the Roman goddess Maia June- the Roman goddess Juno
July- named after Julius Caesar August- named for the Roman emperor Augustus September- from the Latin septem which means seven October- from the Latin octo or eight November- from the Latin nove or nine December- from the Latin decem or ten
So why does the ninth month mean seven, the tenth month mean eight, the eleventh month mean nine and the twelfth month mean ten? Julius Caesar’s calendar started with the month of March and ended with the month of February. That’s really strange, isn’t it?
Do we still use the Julius calendar?
The Catholic Pope Gregory XIII (the thirteenth) changed the calendar again in 1582. Why? Julius Caesar had counted wrong and the leap years needed to be changed or Easter would be in the middle of the summer!
We can thank Pope Gregory XIII for the calendar we have today!
Names for the Days of the Week
Sunday the sun’s day
Monday themoon’s day
Tuesday English for Mars’ day Twi’s day Mars was the Roman god of war Twi was the old English god of war
Wednesday English for Mercury’s day Wotan’s day Mercury was the Roman god of peace and prosperity Wotan was the old English god of peace and prosperity
Thursday English for Jupiter’s day Thor’s day Jupiter was the king of the Roman gods Thor was the old English thunder god
Friday English for Venus’ day Frigg’s day Venus was the Roman goddess of love Frigg was the old English goddess of love
Saturday Saturn’s day Saturn was the Roman god of planting and harvest
Now you know all about the calendar!