What is the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Difference between Julian and Gregorian calendar

Since by this time the difference between the old and new styles was 13 days, the decree ordered that after January 31, 1918, not February 1, but February 14. The same decree prescribed, until July 1, 1918, after the date of each day according to the new style, to write in brackets the number according to the old style: February 14 (1), February 15 (2), etc.

From the history of chronology in Russia.

The ancient Slavs, like many other peoples, initially based their calendar on the period of changing lunar phases. But already by the time of the adoption of Christianity, i.e. by the end of the 10th century. n. e., Ancient Rus' used a lunisolar calendar.

Calendar of the ancient Slavs. It was not possible to definitively establish what the calendar of the ancient Slavs was. It is only known that initially time was counted by seasons. Probably, the 12-month lunar calendar was also used at the same time. In later times, the Slavs switched to a lunisolar calendar, in which an additional 13th month was inserted seven times every 19 years.

The most ancient monuments of Russian writing show that the months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was closely related to natural phenomena. Moreover, the same months, depending on the climate of the places in which different tribes lived, received different names. So, January was called where the section (the time of deforestation), where the prosinets (after the winter clouds the blue sky appeared), where the jelly (since it became icy, cold), etc.; February—cut, snowy or severe (severe frosts); March - birch zol (there are several interpretations here: the birch tree begins to bloom; they took sap from birch trees; they burned the birch for coal), dry (the poorest in precipitation in ancient Kievan Rus, in some places the earth was already dry, sap (a reminder of birch sap); April) - pollen (blooming of gardens), birch (beginning of birch flowering), duben, kviten, etc.; May - grass (grass turns green), summer, pollen; June - cherry blossoms (cherries turn red), isok (grasshoppers chirp - “izoks”). "), milk; July - lipets (linden blossom), cherven (in the north, where phenological phenomena are delayed), serpen (from the word “sickle”, indicating the time of harvest); August - serpen, stubble, roar (from the verb “to roar”). " - the roar of deer, or from the word "glow" - cold dawns, and possibly from "pazores" - auroras); September - veresen (flowering of heather); October - leaf fall, “pazdernik” or “kastrychnik” (pazdernik - hemp buds, the name for the south of Russia); November - gruden (from the word “heap” - frozen rut on the road), leaf fall (in the south of Russia); December - jelly, chest, prosinets.

The year began on March 1, and around this time agricultural work began.

Many ancient names of months later passed into a number of Slavic languages ​​and were largely retained in some modern languages, in particular in Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish.

At the end of the 10th century. Ancient Rus' adopted Christianity. At the same time, the chronology used by the Romans came to us - the Julian calendar (based on the solar year), with Roman names for the months and a seven-day week. It counted years from the “creation of the world,” which allegedly occurred 5508 years before our chronology. This date - one of the many variants of eras from the “creation of the world” - was adopted in the 7th century. in Greece and has been used by the Orthodox Church for a long time.

For many centuries, the beginning of the year was considered March 1, but in 1492, in accordance with church tradition, the beginning of the year was officially moved to September 1 and was celebrated this way for more than two hundred years. However, a few months after Muscovites celebrated their next New Year on September 1, 7208, they had to repeat the celebration. This happened because on December 19, 7208, a personal decree of Peter I was signed and promulgated on the reform of the calendar in Russia, according to which a new beginning of the year was introduced - from January 1 and a new era - the Christian chronology (from the “Nativity of Christ”).

Peter's decree was called: "On the writing henceforth of Genvar from the 1st day of 1700 in all papers of the year from the Nativity of Christ, and not from the creation of the world." Therefore, the decree prescribed that the day after December 31, 7208 from the “creation of the world” should be considered January 1, 1700 from the “Nativity of Christ.” In order for the reform to be adopted without complications, the decree ended with a prudent clause: “And if anyone wants to write both those years, from the creation of the world and from the Nativity of Christ, freely in a row.”

Celebrating the first civil New Year in Moscow. The day after the announcement of Peter I’s decree on calendar reform on Red Square in Moscow, i.e. December 20, 7208, a new decree of the tsar was announced - “On the celebration of the New Year.” Considering that January 1, 1700 is not only the beginning of a new year, but also the beginning of a new century (Here a significant mistake was made in the decree: 1700 is the last year of the 17th century, and not the first year of the 18th century. The new century began on January 1 1701. An error that is sometimes repeated today.), the decree ordered that this event be celebrated with especially solemnity. It gave detailed instructions on how to organize a holiday in Moscow. On New Year's Eve, Peter I himself lit the first rocket on Red Square, giving the signal for the opening of the holiday. The streets were illuminated. The ringing of bells and cannon fire began, and the sounds of trumpets and timpani were heard. The Tsar congratulated the population of the capital on the New Year, and the festivities continued all night. Multi-colored rockets took off from the courtyards into the dark winter sky, and “along the large streets, where there is space,” lights burned—bonfires and tar barrels attached to poles.

The houses of the residents of the wooden capital were decorated with needles “from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper.” For a whole week the houses were decorated, and as night fell the lights were lit. Shooting “from small cannons and from muskets or other small weapons,” as well as launching “missiles,” were entrusted to people “who do not count gold.” And “poor people” were asked to “put at least a tree or branch on each of their gates or over their temple.” Since that time, our country has established the custom of celebrating New Year's Day on January 1 every year.

After 1918, there were still calendar reforms in the USSR. In the period from 1929 to 1940, calendar reforms were carried out in our country three times, caused by production needs. Thus, on August 26, 1929, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR,” which recognized the need to begin a systematic and consistent transfer of enterprises and institutions to continuous production starting from the 1929-1930 business year. In the fall of 1929, a gradual transition to “continuity” began, which ended in the spring of 1930 after the publication of a resolution of a special government commission under the Council of Labor and Defense. This decree introduced a unified production timesheet and calendar. The calendar year had 360 days, i.e. 72 five-day days. It was decided to consider the remaining 5 days as holidays. Unlike the ancient Egyptian calendar, they were not located all together at the end of the year, but were timed to coincide with Soviet memorial days and revolutionary holidays: January 22, May 1 and 2, and November 7 and 8.

The workers of each enterprise and institution were divided into 5 groups, and each group was given a day of rest on every five-day week for the whole year. This meant that after four working days there was a day of rest. After the introduction of the “uninterrupted” period, there was no longer a need for a seven-day week, since weekends could fall not only on different days of the month, but also on different days of the week.

However, this calendar did not last long. Already on November 21, 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the intermittent production week in institutions,” which allowed the People's Commissariats and other institutions to switch to a six-day intermittent production week. For them, permanent days off were established on the following dates of the month: 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30. At the end of February, the day off fell on the last day of the month or was postponed to March 1. In those months that contained 31 days, the last day of the month was considered the same month and was paid specially. The decree on the transition to an intermittent six-day week came into force on December 1, 1931.

Both the five-day and six-day periods completely disrupted the traditional seven-day week with a general day off on Sunday. The six-day week was used for about nine years. Only on June 26, 1940, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree “On the transition to an eight-hour working day, to a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of the unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions.” In development of this decree, on June 27, 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution in which it was established that “in addition to Sundays, non-working days also include:

January 22, May 1 and 2, November 7 and 8, December 5. The same decree abolished the six special days of rest and non-working days that existed in rural areas on March 12 (Day of the Overthrow of the Autocracy) and March 18 (Paris Commune Day).

On March 7, 1967, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution “On the transfer of workers and employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations to a five-day work week with two days off,” but this reform did not in any way affect the structure of the modern calendar."

But the most interesting thing is that passions do not subside. The next revolution is happening in our new time. Sergei Baburin, Victor Alksnis, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko introduced a bill to the State Duma in 2007 on the transition of Russia to the Julian calendar from January 1, 2008. In the explanatory note, the deputies noted that “there is no world calendar” and proposed establishing a transition period from December 31, 2007, when, for 13 days, chronology would be carried out simultaneously according to two calendars at once. Only four deputies took part in the voting. Three are against, one is for. There were no abstentions. The rest of the elected representatives ignored the vote.

Julian calendar

Julian calendar- a calendar developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by Sosigenes and introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC.

The Julian calendar reformed the outdated Roman calendar and was based on the chronology culture of Ancient Egypt. In Ancient Rus', the calendar was known as the “Peacemaking Circle”, “Church Circle” and “Great Indiction”.

The year according to the Julian calendar begins on January 1, since it was on this day from 153 BC. e. The consuls elected by the comitia took office. In the Julian calendar, a normal year consists of 365 days and is divided into 12 months. Once every 4 years, a leap year is declared, to which one day is added - February 29 (previously, a similar system was adopted in the zodiac calendar according to Dionysius). Thus, the Julian year has an average length of 365.25 days, which is 11 minutes longer than the tropical year.

365,24 = 365 + 0,25 = 365 + 1 / 4

The Julian calendar in Russia is usually called old style.

Monthly holidays in the Roman calendar

The calendar was based on static monthly holidays. The first holiday with which the month began was the Kalends. The next holiday, falling on the 7th (in March, May, July and October) and on the 5th of other months, was Nones. The third holiday, falling on the 15th (in March, May, July and October) and the 13th of other months, was the Ides.

Months

There is a mnemonic rule for remembering the number of days in a month: fold your hands into fists and, going from left to right from the bone of the little finger of the left hand to the index finger, alternately touching the bones and pits, list: “January, February, March...”. February will have to be remembered separately. After July (the bone of the index finger of the left hand), you need to move to the bone of the index finger of the right hand and continue counting to the little finger, starting in August. On the underwires - 31, between - 30 (in the case of February - 28 or 29).

Replacement by the Gregorian calendar

The accuracy of the Julian calendar is low: every 128 years an extra day accumulates. Because of this, for example, Christmas, which initially almost coincided with the winter solstice, gradually shifted towards spring. The difference is most noticeable in spring and autumn near the equinoxes, when the rate of change in the length of the day and the position of the sun is maximum. In many temples, according to the creators' plan, on the day of the vernal equinox the sun should hit a certain place, for example, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome this is a mosaic. Not only astronomers, but also the highest clergy, led by the Pope, could make sure that Easter no longer falls in the same place. After a long discussion of this problem, in 1582 the Julian calendar in Catholic countries was replaced by a more accurate calendar by decree of Pope Gregory XIII. Moreover, the next day after October 4 was announced as October 15. Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually, throughout the 17th-18th centuries; the last were Great Britain (1752) and Sweden.

In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars adopted on January 24, 1918; in Orthodox Greece - in 1923. The Gregorian calendar is often called new style.

Julian calendar in Orthodoxy

Currently, the Julian calendar is used only by some local Orthodox churches: Jerusalem, Russian, Serbian, Georgian, Ukrainian.

In addition, it is adhered to by some monasteries and parishes in other European countries, as well as in the USA, monasteries and other institutions of Athos (Patriarchate of Constantinople), Greek Old Calendarists (in schism) and other schismatic Old Calendarists who did not accept the transition to the New Julian calendar in Greece church and other churches in the 1920s; as well as a number of Monophysite churches, including in Ethiopia.

However, all Orthodox churches that have adopted the new calendar, except the Church of Finland, still calculate the day of Easter celebration and holidays, the dates of which depend on the date of Easter, according to the Alexandrian Paschal and the Julian calendar.

Difference between Julian and Gregorian calendars

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is constantly increasing due to different rules for determining leap years: in the Julian calendar, all years divisible by 4 are leap years, while in the Gregorian calendar, a year is a leap year if it is a multiple of 400, or a multiple of 4 and not a multiple of it. 100. The leap occurs in the final year of the century (see Leap Year).

Difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars (dates are given according to the Gregorian calendar; October 15, 1582 corresponds to October 5 according to the Julian calendar; other start dates of periods correspond to the Julian February 29, end dates - February 28).

Date difference Julian and Gregorian calendars:

One should not confuse the translation (recalculation) of real historical dates (events in history) to another calendar style with the recalculation (for ease of use) to another style of the Julian church calendar, in which all days of celebration (memory of saints and others) are fixed as Julian - regardless of what Gregorian date a particular holiday or memorial day corresponded to. Due to the increasing change in the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar, starting in 2101, will celebrate Christmas not on January 7, as in the 20th-21st centuries, but on January 8 (translated to the new style), but, for example, from 9997, Christmas will be celebrated on March 8 (new style), although in their liturgical calendar this day will still be marked as December 25 (old style). In addition, it should be borne in mind that in a number of countries where the Julian calendar was in use before the beginning of the 20th century (for example, in Greece), the dates of historical events that occurred before the transition to the new style continue to be celebrated on the same dates (nominally), in which they occurred according to the Julian calendar (which, among other things, is reflected in the practice of the Greek section of Wikipedia).