What's up with the Gregorian Calendar?

The Gregorian Calendar is currently used by most of the Western World...yet few of us can accurately state where it came from, when it came into use, or how many other calendars are in use around the world today.

Where did it come from?

The Gregorian calendar was modestly named after Pope Gregory XIII, who commissioned iits creation in 1592. It was created after the "Doctrine of Discovery," which assumed that the Christian Church had the power to take ANY land owned by non-Christian peoples. The gregorian calendar thus became another method to control people through the economic and political measurement of time.

Many people are surprised to learn that Britan and the colonies of America did not adopt this calendar until the 1750s, and that people in the American colonies rioted when the new calendar was imposed upon them! Protestants believed that it was a Catholic plot to drag them back into Catholocism, and multitudes of people were distraught that the new calendar had "stolen" days from their lives. Why? The earlier Roman calendar, (Julian Calendar), had been used for about 1600 years previously, but due to mathematical inaccuracies it had drifted increasingly away from celestial time markers, such as the Equinoxes and Solstices. The Gregorian calendar, in correcting these inaccuracies, skipped ahead, thus giving the illusion of 'lost" time.

Mysteries Hidden in Plain Sight
We use the months and days of the week without thinking - history and ancient mysteries are hidden in plain sight even as we go about somewhat mundane daily tasks. For while the gregorian calendar was imposed as a way to control and dominate, the actual names of the months and days of the week are much older.

And most of us are unaware that the names of each day and many of the months were given in honor of beloved Gods or Goddesses. Do you know whom the days are named for?

The Day's names are:

Monday - Moon Day (Moon Goddess)
Tuesday - Tiw's Day (God of Battle)
Wednesday - Woden's Day (God of Poetry and the Dead)
Thursday - Thor's Day (God of Thunder)
Friday - Frigg's or Freya's Day (Goddess of Love)
Saturday - Saturn's Day (God of Fertility and Agriculture)
Sunday - Sun's Day (Sun God)

The Month's Names are:

January - Janus, the God of gates
February = named for Februa, the day of purification
March - Mars, God of War
April - Apru, Goddess of Love
May - Maia, Goddess of Growth (Earth Goddess)
Juno - Great Goddess of Ancient World
July - named for Julius Caesar
August - named for Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar
September, October, November and December are derived from the Latin words for their old numbers: i.e. September comes from the Latin word for 7, as it was the 7th month of the old Julian Calendar (of course, in our calendar it is the 9th month).

A few dating systems besides the Gregorian calendar still remain in use today. For example, the Chinese calendar is still widely used. The Muslim calendar has been retained by most Arab countries, while the traditional Hindu and Jewish calendars continue to be used for religious purposes.

Over the past few decades, many new calendars have begun to spring up, as people realize that the way we visualize the passing of time influences our ideas about time. Some of my favorites are lunar calendars, following the ancient tradition of counting months by the 13 full moons within a solar year.

We are a part of an entire Universe, and a more Universal method of keeping time might just increase our vision, and allow humankind a tool for reawakening a feeling of Oneness with All...and bring this self-induced feeling of alienation to an end. (After all, a being who feels "at home" does not behave like a hostile alien in a foreign land.)

Belief systems that teach humankind's separations from other life on this planet create a destructive sense of isolation in their followers - and the devastation that they have wrought is apparent in our environmental degradation, and in the way we treat those species and people who are smaller, weaker or without voice.

Indeed, I have heard it said that without a new way of keeping time, our society is doomed to continue it's dysfunctional course. The way we experience life has much to do with the way we relate to time, which is the reason why the dominator cultures of the Roman and Christian Empire sought to impose their own calendars. Realizing this, it is exciting that so many new calendars are coming into our reality at this time.

And I would say that anything that aids us in thinking "outside the box" is a wonderful thing!

©1996, S. Jinn, all rights reserved. Feel free to reprint this article as long as you include this copyright and a link to http://www.digitalgoddess.org. :-)

 

Did you know that Scarlet Jinn is the lyricist/vocalist for Rock Scarlet and Psychanaut? Visit her blog at ScarletJinn.com for tidbits on lyric, random thoughts, and the journey of being a visionary musical performer.