World calendar
Encyclopedia
The World Calendar is a proposed reform
of the Gregorian calendar
created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930.
Each quarter begins on Sunday, ends on Saturday. The quarters are equal: each has exactly 91 days, 13 weeks or 3 months. The three months have 31, 30, 30 days respectively. Each quarter begins with the 31-day months of January, April, July, or October.
The World Calendar also has the following two additional days to maintain the same new year days as the Gregorian calendar
.
Worldsday
Leapyear Day
The World Calendar treats Worldsday and Leapyear Day as a 24-hour waiting period before resuming the calendar again. These off-calendar days, also known as "intercalary days
", are not assigned weekday designations. They are intended to be treated as holidays.
Because any three-month sequence repeats with the same arrangement of days, The World Calendar can be expressed concisely:
, a proposal to reform the Gregorian calendar year so that it would always begin on Sunday, January 1, and would contain equal quarters of 91 days each. The 365th day of the solar cycle
would be a year-end, "intercalary" and optionally holy day. In leap years, a second "intercalary day" follows Saturday, June 30.
Elisabeth Achelis founded The World Calendar Association (TWCA) in 1930 with the goal of worldwide adoption of The World Calendar. It functioned for most of the next twenty-five years as The World Calendar Association, Inc. Throughout the 1930s, support for the concept grew in the League of Nations
, the precursor of the United Nations. Achelis started the Journal of Calendar Reform in 1931, publishing it for twenty-five years, and wrote five books, on the calendar concept.
Following World War II, Achelis solicited worldwide support for The World Calendar. As the movement gained international appeal with legislation introduced in the United States Congress, awaiting international decisions, Achelis accepted advice that the United Nations was the proper body to act on calendar reform. At the United Nations in 1955, the United States significantly delayed universal adoption by withholding support "unless such a reform were favoured by a substantial majority of the citizens of the United States acting through their representatives in the Congress of the United States." Also, Achelis wrote in 1955, (JCR Vol. 25, page 169), "While Affiliates and Committees have over the years and still are able to approach all branches of their governments, the Incorporated (International) Association was prevented from seeking legislation in the United States lest it lose its tax exempt status. Because of this I have been prevented from doing in my own country that which I have been urging all other Affiliates to do in theirs."
By 1956, she dissolved The World Calendar Association, Incorporated. It continued as the International World Calendar Association through the rest of the century with several directors including Molly E. Kalkstein, who is related to Achelis, and who provided the Association's first official website during her 2000-2004 tenure. The Association reorganised in 2005 as The World Calendar Association, International. It is currently active with resumed efforts towards adoption of The World Calendar in 2012. The World Calendar Association's current director is Wayne Edward Richardson of Ellinwood, Kansas
.
Proponents refer to its simple structure. Each day is assigned an exact, repetitive date relative to week and month. Quarterly statistics are easier to compare, since the four quarters are the same length each year. Economic savings occur from less need to print calendars because only the year number changes. Work and school schedules do not need to unnecessarily reinvent themselves, at great expense, year after year. The World Calendar can be memorised by anyone and used similarly to a clock.
Because The World Calendar is perpetual, there is no need to churn out copies of it every year. The calendar corresponds from 1 September to 28 February with the Gregorian calendar (the last four months of 2006 correspond to The World Calendar and allow a preview to the convenience offered by a simpler calendar). Other dates in The World Calendar occur with no more than two days difference from Gregorian calendar dates.
Jews observe Saturday as Shabbat
, on the basis of the Decalogue
's injunction to "Remember the sabbath
day, and keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). Christians worship on Sunday, the Lord's Day
, on which they believe Christ rose from the dead. Muslims perform the jumu'ah
prayer in Mosques on Fridays, the day they believe Adam was created. Likewise, Seventh-Day Adventists are required to worship every Saturday
.
Adherents of these religions object that intercalary days are counted outside the usual seven-day week and disrupt the traditional weekly cycle. A week with a Worldsday would be eight days long. Adherents of these religions insist that they would have to continue observing their holy days every seventh day, causing the worship days to drift by one day each year (two on a leap year), relative to The World Calendar week. The day of rest would then no longer coincide with the weekend.
These concerns played a role in the United States government's decision at the United Nations in 1955 not to recommend further study.
Supporters of The World Calendar do not deny that their system is at odds with the traditions of a significant portion of the world's population, but argue that Worldsdays and Leapyear Days can be treated as "double" holy days by those who wish to maintain the seven-day week sequence.
, which is based upon, but differs from, the Gregorian calendar. They differ regarding the first weekday of the week (Sunday vs. Monday) and ISO 8601 does not support intercalary dates (e.g. in notation). The World Calendar, however, modifies the Gregorian calendar less than other calendar reform proposals to achieve the sought after improvements of a simpler and perpetual calendar.
Calendar reform
A calendar reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar.Most calendars have several rules which could be altered by reform:...
of the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930.
Features
The World Calendar is a 12-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters. It is perennial, or perpetual, because it remains the same every year.Each quarter begins on Sunday, ends on Saturday. The quarters are equal: each has exactly 91 days, 13 weeks or 3 months. The three months have 31, 30, 30 days respectively. Each quarter begins with the 31-day months of January, April, July, or October.
The World Calendar also has the following two additional days to maintain the same new year days as the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
.
Worldsday
- The last day of the year following 30 December. This additional day is dated "W", which equals 31 December, and named Worldsday, a year-end world holiday. It is followed by Sunday, 1 January in the new year.
Leapyear Day
- This day is similarly added at the end of the second quarter in leap yearsLeap YearsLeap Years is a 2001 drama television series that aired on the Showtime cable network. The show was created by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, who had created the American version of the series Queer as Folk. It followed a group of friends in New York City...
. It is also dated "W", which equals 31 June, and named Leapyear Day. It is followed by Sunday, 1 July within the same year.
The World Calendar treats Worldsday and Leapyear Day as a 24-hour waiting period before resuming the calendar again. These off-calendar days, also known as "intercalary days
Intercalation
Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.- Solar calendars :...
", are not assigned weekday designations. They are intended to be treated as holidays.
Because any three-month sequence repeats with the same arrangement of days, The World Calendar can be expressed concisely:
Background and history
The World Calendar has its roots in the proposed calendar of the Abbot Marco MastrofiniMarco Mastrofini
Marco Mastrofini , Italian priest, philosopher and mathematician.-History of work:In 1834 he offered to create the World and "eternal" calendar and has shown, that its invariance can be achieved only by application of so-called “special days”, i.e. such which would not be days of week or month....
, a proposal to reform the Gregorian calendar year so that it would always begin on Sunday, January 1, and would contain equal quarters of 91 days each. The 365th day of the solar cycle
Solar cycle
The solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle, is a periodic change in the amount of irradiation from the Sun that is experienced on Earth. It has a period of about 11 years, and is one component of solar variation, the other being aperiodic fluctuations. Solar variation causes changes in...
would be a year-end, "intercalary" and optionally holy day. In leap years, a second "intercalary day" follows Saturday, June 30.
Elisabeth Achelis founded The World Calendar Association (TWCA) in 1930 with the goal of worldwide adoption of The World Calendar. It functioned for most of the next twenty-five years as The World Calendar Association, Inc. Throughout the 1930s, support for the concept grew in the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, the precursor of the United Nations. Achelis started the Journal of Calendar Reform in 1931, publishing it for twenty-five years, and wrote five books, on the calendar concept.
Following World War II, Achelis solicited worldwide support for The World Calendar. As the movement gained international appeal with legislation introduced in the United States Congress, awaiting international decisions, Achelis accepted advice that the United Nations was the proper body to act on calendar reform. At the United Nations in 1955, the United States significantly delayed universal adoption by withholding support "unless such a reform were favoured by a substantial majority of the citizens of the United States acting through their representatives in the Congress of the United States." Also, Achelis wrote in 1955, (JCR Vol. 25, page 169), "While Affiliates and Committees have over the years and still are able to approach all branches of their governments, the Incorporated (International) Association was prevented from seeking legislation in the United States lest it lose its tax exempt status. Because of this I have been prevented from doing in my own country that which I have been urging all other Affiliates to do in theirs."
By 1956, she dissolved The World Calendar Association, Incorporated. It continued as the International World Calendar Association through the rest of the century with several directors including Molly E. Kalkstein, who is related to Achelis, and who provided the Association's first official website during her 2000-2004 tenure. The Association reorganised in 2005 as The World Calendar Association, International. It is currently active with resumed efforts towards adoption of The World Calendar in 2012. The World Calendar Association's current director is Wayne Edward Richardson of Ellinwood, Kansas
Ellinwood, Kansas
Ellinwood is a city in the southeast corner of Barton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,131.-History:...
.
Reception
As with other calendar reform proposals, supporters point out several benefits to The World Calendar over the current Gregorian calendar.Proponents refer to its simple structure. Each day is assigned an exact, repetitive date relative to week and month. Quarterly statistics are easier to compare, since the four quarters are the same length each year. Economic savings occur from less need to print calendars because only the year number changes. Work and school schedules do not need to unnecessarily reinvent themselves, at great expense, year after year. The World Calendar can be memorised by anyone and used similarly to a clock.
Because The World Calendar is perpetual, there is no need to churn out copies of it every year. The calendar corresponds from 1 September to 28 February with the Gregorian calendar (the last four months of 2006 correspond to The World Calendar and allow a preview to the convenience offered by a simpler calendar). Other dates in The World Calendar occur with no more than two days difference from Gregorian calendar dates.
Religious objections
The main opponents of The World Calendar in the 20th century were leaders of religions that worship according to a seven-day cycle. For Jews, Christians and Muslims, particular days of worship are ancient and fundamental elements of their faith.Jews observe Saturday as Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, on the basis of the Decalogue
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
's injunction to "Remember the sabbath
Biblical Sabbath
Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...
day, and keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). Christians worship on Sunday, the Lord's Day
Lord's Day
Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...
, on which they believe Christ rose from the dead. Muslims perform the jumu'ah
Jumu'ah
Jumu'ah is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in lieu of dhuhr...
prayer in Mosques on Fridays, the day they believe Adam was created. Likewise, Seventh-Day Adventists are required to worship every Saturday
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday.Saturday is the last day of the week on many calendars and in conventions that consider the week as beginning on Sunday, or the sixth day of the week according to international standard ISO 8601 which was first published in...
.
Adherents of these religions object that intercalary days are counted outside the usual seven-day week and disrupt the traditional weekly cycle. A week with a Worldsday would be eight days long. Adherents of these religions insist that they would have to continue observing their holy days every seventh day, causing the worship days to drift by one day each year (two on a leap year), relative to The World Calendar week. The day of rest would then no longer coincide with the weekend.
These concerns played a role in the United States government's decision at the United Nations in 1955 not to recommend further study.
Supporters of The World Calendar do not deny that their system is at odds with the traditions of a significant portion of the world's population, but argue that Worldsdays and Leapyear Days can be treated as "double" holy days by those who wish to maintain the seven-day week sequence.
ISO 8601
The World Calendar, unlike some other proposals, is not compatible with the international standard ISO 8601ISO 8601
ISO 8601 Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times is an international standard covering the exchange of date and time-related data. It was issued by the International Organization for Standardization and was first published in 1988...
, which is based upon, but differs from, the Gregorian calendar. They differ regarding the first weekday of the week (Sunday vs. Monday) and ISO 8601 does not support intercalary dates (e.g. in notation). The World Calendar, however, modifies the Gregorian calendar less than other calendar reform proposals to achieve the sought after improvements of a simpler and perpetual calendar.
See also
- Calendar reformCalendar reformA calendar reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar.Most calendars have several rules which could be altered by reform:...
- International Fixed CalendarInternational Fixed CalendarThe International Fixed calendar is a solar calendar proposal for calendar reform designed by Moses B...
: another calendar reform proposed before the World Calendar - World Season Calendar
- Common-Civil-Calendar-and-TimeCommon-Civil-Calendar-and-TimeThe Common-Civil-Calendar-and-Time Calendar is a proposal for calendar reform. It is one of many examples of leap week calendars, calendars which maintain synchronization with the solar year by intercalating entire weeks rather than single days....
: similar structure