A long time ago someone pointed out that possibly the greatest religious coup in history was Christians getting the rest of the world to use a calendar based on the birth of their deity.
If we were going to revamp the calendar, what would be a good year to use as the starting point? Some have suggested something connected to atomic energy - the first splitting of the atom, or maybe the first nuclear bomb detonation. That certainly represents a big dividing line in human history.
Some connected with the French Revolution wanted the new calendar to begin with that event. Who knows, if the Revolution had survived and spread, maybe that would have happened. But wealth and aristocracy reclaimed their place.
I think an argument could be made to date the new calendar from the first manned space flight. Or maybe the first Moon landing.
If we knew with reasonable certainty when humans first appeared on this planet, that could be a good candidate for the start of the human calendar.
Of course it isn't just the start year that we might want to change. When should each individual year start? Right now it loosely coincides with the winter solstice. You can make a good argument for that. But the Romans started their pre-Julian calendar with the spring equinox. That makes sense, too. Perhaps there are some other candidates.
Basing it on a fictional character isn't necessarily a bad idea, but there are lots of other fictional calendars we could choose.
And then we can turn to how many months, weeks, and days in each unit. Assuming we want to keep such designations.
Here's one of many suggested alternatives that seems to have some merit (highlighted):
The Positivist Calendar
Auguste Comte's Positivist Calendar has 13 months of 28 days, an intercalary day at the end of each year, and another at the end of leap years. It is therefore a perennial calendar, the same every year. All the months on the Positivist Calendar have four, seven-day weeks beginning on Monday. So the days of the month always fall on the same weekday. For example, the 10th is always on Wednesday.
Although the Positivist Calendar was first published in 1849, Comte began its reckoning of years from 1789. Comte's calendar was the model for the "International Fixed Calendar," promoted by Moses Cotsworth and George Eastman in the early 20th century.
http://calendopedia.com/modern.htm
Why keep the 7-day week? Did the 7-day week derive from our dominant Abrahamic creation myth or did the myth incorporate an already-existing week of 7 days?
Why not a 5-day week? Five divides nicely into 365, 7 doesn't - hence the leap year adjustment. We could stick with 12 months if we wanted. Each with 6 weeks. Plus one free-standing week a year to party! Who wouldn't like that?
If we were going to revamp the calendar, what would be a good year to use as the starting point? Some have suggested something connected to atomic energy - the first splitting of the atom, or maybe the first nuclear bomb detonation. That certainly represents a big dividing line in human history.
Some connected with the French Revolution wanted the new calendar to begin with that event. Who knows, if the Revolution had survived and spread, maybe that would have happened. But wealth and aristocracy reclaimed their place.
I think an argument could be made to date the new calendar from the first manned space flight. Or maybe the first Moon landing.
If we knew with reasonable certainty when humans first appeared on this planet, that could be a good candidate for the start of the human calendar.
Of course it isn't just the start year that we might want to change. When should each individual year start? Right now it loosely coincides with the winter solstice. You can make a good argument for that. But the Romans started their pre-Julian calendar with the spring equinox. That makes sense, too. Perhaps there are some other candidates.
Basing it on a fictional character isn't necessarily a bad idea, but there are lots of other fictional calendars we could choose.
And then we can turn to how many months, weeks, and days in each unit. Assuming we want to keep such designations.
Here's one of many suggested alternatives that seems to have some merit (highlighted):
The Positivist Calendar
Auguste Comte's Positivist Calendar has 13 months of 28 days, an intercalary day at the end of each year, and another at the end of leap years. It is therefore a perennial calendar, the same every year. All the months on the Positivist Calendar have four, seven-day weeks beginning on Monday. So the days of the month always fall on the same weekday. For example, the 10th is always on Wednesday.
Although the Positivist Calendar was first published in 1849, Comte began its reckoning of years from 1789. Comte's calendar was the model for the "International Fixed Calendar," promoted by Moses Cotsworth and George Eastman in the early 20th century.
http://calendopedia.com/modern.htm
Why keep the 7-day week? Did the 7-day week derive from our dominant Abrahamic creation myth or did the myth incorporate an already-existing week of 7 days?
Why not a 5-day week? Five divides nicely into 365, 7 doesn't - hence the leap year adjustment. We could stick with 12 months if we wanted. Each with 6 weeks. Plus one free-standing week a year to party! Who wouldn't like that?
