![]() This new calendar was constructed around months of the year to create the 365-day calendar year. In 46 B.C., Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar. “After working with astronomers, Julius Caesar discovered a solution he believed would fix the inconsistency in the calendar system,” Krisciunas said. Julius Caesar, leader of the Roman Empire, was the first person who confronted this problem and sought to create a standardized calendar that reflected the seasons. This small difference is enough to cause the calendar to gradually get out of sync with the seasons. But Earth’s yearly trip around the sun takes a little longer than that (365.2422 days, to be exact). Most years, the calendar is made up of 365 days. “Adding an extra day every four years keeps our calendar aligned correctly with the astronomical seasons.” Why Leap Years? “Leap years are used as a way to reconcile the calendar,” Krisciunas said. Without leap years, the calendar year would continue to drift away from the solar year over time-meaning that eventually the winter months would be in the summer and vice versa. Due to this extra day, leap years have 366 days. Leap days are extra days added to the calendar year to synchronize it with Earth’s solar orbit. Kevin Krisciunas, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Texas A&M University College of Science, explained that the necessity for leap years comes from the “messiness” of our solar system. That is because leap day happens only once approximately every four years-and 2020 is a leap year!ĭr. You may notice that this date didn’t appear on last year’s calendar, or the year before that, or the year before that. Kevin Krisciunas, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, explains how Leap Day helps keep our calendars in sync with the Earth’s solar orbit.įebruary 29th. Since then, people around the world have gathered en masse on January 1 to celebrate the precise arrival of the New Year.Dr. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar was implemented, omitting 10 days for that year and establishing the new rule that only one of every four centennial years should be a leap year. The Church became aware of this problem, and in the 1570s Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius to come up with a new calendar. Thus, an 11-minute-a-year error added seven days by the year 1000, and 10 days by the mid-15th century. The reason for the latter was that Caesar and Sosigenes failed to calculate the correct value for the solar year as 365.242199 days, not 365.25 days. Later, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) after his successor.Ĭelebration of New Year’s Day in January fell out of practice during the Middle Ages, and even those who strictly adhered to the Julian calendar did not observe the New Year exactly on January 1. Shortly after Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., Mark Anthony changed the name of the month Quintilis to Julius (July) to honor him. He also decreed that every four years a day be added to February, thus theoretically keeping his calendar from falling out of step. begin on January 1, rather than in March. The year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days, and Caesar added 67 days to 46 B.C., making 45 B.C. In designing his new calendar, Caesar enlisted the aid of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, who advised him to do away with the lunar cycle entirely and follow the solar year, as did the Egyptians. READ MORE: 5 Ancient New Year’s Celebrations ![]() In addition, the pontifices, the Roman body charged with overseeing the calendar, often abused its authority by adding days to extend political terms or interfere with elections. ![]() ![]() Introduced around the seventh century B.C., the Roman calendar attempted to follow the lunar cycle but frequently fell out of phase with the seasons and had to be corrected. Soon after becoming Roman dictator, Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar was in dire need of reform. In 45 B.C., New Year’s Day is celebrated on January 1 for the first time in history as the Julian calendar takes effect.
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