American Minute with Bill Federer
Leap Day History
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Ancient peoples, for millennia, had used
calendars based on the moon,
whose
lunar cycles
incrementally shifted through the seasons.
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These
shifting seasons
served as
an enormous generational clock.
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As the
Roman Empire
expanded and conquered nations, these
lunar calendars
were difficult to reconcile with each other.
Julius Caesar,
who was in a sense the
first globalist,
replaced the many lunar calendars with
one new unified solar calendar.
Based on the
sun,
it had
365 days
and a
"leap" day every 4th year
on
February 29th.
Instituted in 45 BC, this was called the
"Julian Calendar."
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Caesar
also made
January
the first month of the year.
Previously,
March
had been the
first month.
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Remnants of
March
being the
first month
is still seen in the
old Roman Latin names
of the months:
September, October, November,
December.
- "Sept" is Latin for seven;
- "Oct" is Latin for eight (ie. octogon=eight sided);
- "Nov" is Latin for nine; and
- "Dec" is Latin for ten (ie. decimal=divisible by ten).
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Rome's
old fifth month,
Quintilis,
was renamed after
Julius Caesar,
being called
"July."
As it only had 30 days,
Julius Caesar
took
a day from the old end of the year, February,
and added it to
July,
giving the month
31 days.
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The next emperor,
Augustus Caesar,
renamed the old sixth month,
Sextilis,
after himself, calling it
"August."
He also took a day from the old end of the year,
February,
and added it to
August,
giving that month
31 days,
and leaving
February with only 28 days.
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Augustus Caesar
also had his version of government tracking by conducting
an empire-wide census
to
track everyone under his control.
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The
Roman Empire
persecuted Christians for three centuries in ten major persecutions until
Emperor Constantine.
Just as
Julius Caesar unified
the
Roman Empire
with the
Julian Calendar, Constantine
decided to have a
unified date
to
celebrate Easter-Christ's Resurrection
throughout the
Christian Roman Empire.
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The most important event in the
Christian calendar
was
Christ's crucifixion
as the
Passover Lamb
on the
Jewish Feast of Passover,
His being in the
grave
on the
Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and his
Resurrection of the Feast of First Fruits,
or as it was later called,
Easter.
The Apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians 5:7 "For even
Christ
our
Passover
is sacrificed for us."
First Corinthians 15:20 "But now is
Christ
risen from the dead, and become
the firstfruits
of them that slept."
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At the
Council of Nicaea
in 325 AD,
Constantine
insisted that
Easter
be on a
Sunday
in the
Roman solar calendar.
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This was a defining moment in the split between what had been a
predominately Jewish Christian Church
-- as Jesus and his disciples were Jewish -- and
the emerging Gentile Christian Church.
Prior to
Constantine,
Christians would ask Jews each year when the Passover Feast would be celebrated, which according to their lunar calendar began on
the evening of 14th day of Nissan.
Constantine's new formula
set the date of
Easter
as the
first Sunday after the first paschal full moon falling on or after the Spring Equinox.
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"Equinox"
is a solar calendar term:
"equi" = "equal"
and
"nox" = "night."
Thus
"equinox"
is when the
daytime and nighttime
are of
equal duration.
It occurs once in the
Spring
around March 20 and once in the
Autumn
around September 22.
In the year 325 AD,
Easter
was on March 21.
During the Middle Ages, France celebrated its New Year Day on
Easter.
Tables
were compiled with the
future dates of Easter.
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In 526, during the reign of Christian
Emperor Justinian,
the
scholarly monk Dionysius Exigus
thought it inappropriate that dates were still being recorded in relation to the reign of anti-Christian tyrant Emperor Diolcetian -
“anno Diocletiani."
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Dionysius Exigus
began making notations marking down dates in relation to the birth of Jesus -
“anno Domini,”
which in Latin means
“in the year of the Lord's reign.”
Gradually, this method of recording all dates in relation to
Christ’s birth
became the most accepted dating system in the world.
All dates in world history are either
BC "Before Christ"
or
AD "Anno Domini"
-- meaning in the
Year of the Lord's Reign.
In the late 19th century, secularists in academia popularized the use of
BCE - "Before Common Era"
and
CE "Common Era."
The pointless nature of this is displayed in the question: When did the recording of time change from
Before Common Era
to
Common Era?
The answer is, the birth of
Christ.
In the attempt to ignore
Christ,
he is nonetheless acknowledged.
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In 567 AD, the
Council of Tours
returned the first month of the year
back to March,
as the
January 1st
date was associated with
pagan Rome.
The
Council of Tours
also settled another controversy between the
Eastern
and
Western Roman Empires.
The
East
celebrated
Epiphany, January 6,
as the
holiest day,
while the
West
celebrated
December 25,
so the decision was made to make
all 12 days
between them
"The Twelve Days of Christmas."
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They were called
"holy days,"
which came to be pronounced
"holidays."
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Differing dates for Easter was a major conflict between the Bishops of the
Celtic Christian tradition
and
Roman Catholic tradition,
as Saint Patrick confronted the Druid chieftain King Loigaire (Leary) on the
night before Easter,
c.433 AD, resulting in a large number of Irish converting.
Finally, at the
Synod of Whitby Abbey
in 664 AD,
King Oswy of Northumbria
agreed to have the
Celtic Church
come under the authority of the
Roman Catholic Church.
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The tables
of when to celebrate Easter according to the Julian Calendar had a slight
discrepancy.
By 1582, it became clear that the
Julian Calendar
was off by about
11 minutes per year,
resulting in
the compiled tables
having the date of
Easter ten days ahead of the Spring Equinox,
and even further from its origins in the
Jewish Passover.
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Pope Gregory XIII
decided to
revise the calendar
by
eliminating ten days.
He set a
leap year every 4th year
with a minor adjustment.
There is
NO leap year
in
years divisible by 100 unless
they are
also divisible by 400.
Therefore, there IS a
leap day
in the years 1600, 2000, 2400, but there is
NO leap day
in the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100.
It sounds complicated, but it is so accurate that the
Gregorian Calendar
is the most
internationally used calendar
today.
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Pope Gregory's "Gregorian Calendar"
also returned the
beginning of the new year BACK to Julius Caesar's January 1st date.
Catholic
countries quickly adopted the
Gregorian Calendar,
but
Protestant
countries did not for nearly two centuries.
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As
England
was an
Anglican Protestant country,
it was reluctant to adopting the more accurate
Catholic Gregorian Calendar.
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This gave rise to some interesting record keeping.
For example:
ships
would leave
Protestant England
on one date according to the
Julian Calendar,
called
"Old Style"
and arrive in
Catholic Europe
at an
earlier date,
as much of
Europe
was using the
Gregorian Calendar,
called
"New Style."
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Another example is that
England's William Shakespeare
and
Spain's Miguel de Cervantes,
author of
Don Quixote of La Mancha,
died on the same date, April 23, 1616.
But when the differences between
England's Julian Calendar
and
Spain's Gregorian Calendar
are removed,
Cervantes
actually died
ten days before Shakespeare.
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In 1752,
England
and
its colonies
finally
adopted
the
Gregorian Calendar,
but by that time there was an
11 day discrepancy
between the
"Old Style"
(OS) and the
"New Style"
(NS).
When America finally adjusted its calendar, the
day after September 2,
1752 (Old Style),
became September 14,
1752 (New Style).
There were reportedly accounts of confusion and rioting.
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As
countries of Western Europe,
particularly
Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch
and
English,
began to trade and establish colonies around the world, the
Gregorian Calendar
came into
international
use.
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Another interesting event occurred on this day during
Christopher Columbus'
last voyage.
Driven by storms around the Caribbean Sea, two of
Columbus'
ships were abandoned and the remaining two were worm-eaten and sinking.
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Columbus
was shipwrecked on Jamaica.
Indians brought food for a while, but then threatened to become hostile.
Columbus,
using his skill as a navigator, predicted that a
lunar eclipse
would take place on
February 29, 1504.
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He called the Indian Chiefs to his marooned ship and told them if they did not stay on good terms, he would pray that God would blot out the moon.
When the eclipse began, the Indians shrieked and quickly made peace with
Columbus.
Columbus
later wrote:
"My hope in the One who created us all sustains me: He is an ever-present help in trouble."
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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