[Ansteorra] Happy New Year!

[Galen of Ockham, OP]

   Calendars are pretty neat and tidy these days. Essentially the entire
   world works off the same system (at least for business purposes). It
   was not so easy in the past:


   "If we suppose a traveler to set out from Venice on 1 March 1245, the
   first day of the Venetian year, he would find himself in 1244 when he
   reached Florence: and if after a short stay he went on to Pisa, the
   year 1246 would already have begun there. Continuing his journey
   westward, he would find himself again in 1245 when he entered Province,
   and on arriving in France before Easter (16 April) he would be once
   more in 1244." [Cheney, C.R. (ed), Revised by Michael Jones. A Handbook
   of Dates for Students of British History, New Edition. Cambridge
   University Press. 2000. p. 8.]


   March 25 was considered New Year's Day in many countries. For example,
   England and its colonies used March 25 until they transitioned to a Jan
   1 start of the year when they adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.


   Why the 25^th of March? One theory is that it was close to the spring
   equinox and also was a prominent date on the Church calendar: the Feast
   of the Annunciation, informally known as "Lady Day".


   If wearing your garb in public isn't sufficient to get the attention of
   non-SCA folks, try wishing them a "Happy New Year" today!

   --

   Magister Galenus Ockhamnesis
   Friar Galen of Ockham, OP
   A Study in Natural Philosophy: [1]http://medievalscience.org
   Chirurgeon's Point: [2]http://chirurgeon.org

   xb

References

   1. http://medievalscience.org/
   2. http://chirurgeon.org/