At this time of year, I encounter a problem which would probably sound familiar to you, that is of writing the wrong year when needing to jot down a date. The problem arises as we become so used to writing the previous year that it becomes second nature and we wouldn’t be thinking about it while writing, and sometimes keep on going until something (or someone) reminds us that we are still living in the year that was.
Probably the majority of you make their appointments according to a calendar system started by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and is therefore named the Gregorian Calendar.
This was a small modification on the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar starting in the year 46 BC, whose intention was to make a system with established rules without the intervention of the Roman high priest (pontifex maximus), which interventions were supposed to happen regularly to adjust the year to astronomical observations of the solar year, but which became politicised and caused huge confusion. The Julian Calendar was of 12 months, with 365 days a year, and once every fourth year, the so-called leap year contains 366 days, therefore an average of 365.25 days in a year.
The Julian system was quite a good estimate for the tropical year, that is the amount of days necessary for the sun to return to the same position after a whole cycle of 4 seasons, which is estimated at 365.2421, but even that small difference of 0.0079 days in a year added up to a discrepancy of 10 days until the year 1582, and this was causing a problem for the Catholic Church which chose the feast of Easter with reference to the spring equinox.
The Gregorian Calendar corrected this discrepancy by stopping the Julian Calendar at the date of Thursday 4th October 1582, and starting the new calendar the next day at Friday 15th October 1582. Apart from this, it modified the rule for the leap year, which becomes not applicable if the year is wholly divisible by 100, but is applicable if divisible by 400. This modification results in an average year of 365.2425, which is much closer to the tropical year.
Initially, the Gregorian Calendar was only applicable to the Roman Catholic Church, was not accepted by the other Christian Churches (Protestant or Orthodox) and did not have any civil influence. Nevetheless, with time it began being adopted firstly by countries where Catholicism was strong, such as Spain, Italy, France and others, and then as centuries passed by other countries and empires, such as the British Empire in the 18th century, and China and Russia in the 20th.
You could say that today the Gregorian Calendar is in use around the world for the organisation of social, religious, administrative and other activities, and is useful as a widely recognised system around the world. Nevertheless, this does not mean that other calendars are no longer used for specific purposes.
The Gregorian Calendar is just one example of a solar calendar, that is one that uses the position of the sun during the equinox as a reference. Apart from ancient calendars, there are a few that are still in use, such as the Solar Hijri in Iran (which starts on the 20th or 21st March, and which has reached the year 1397), and the Badi calendar of the Bahá’í faith, which has a year of 19 months of 19 days each, and other days added.
There are also lunar calendars, where day numeration depends upon lunar cycles. One often heard about is the Islamic calendar, the Hijra (not the Solar one), which consists of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days, used to establish important feasts such as Ramadan and the right period for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
There are also hybrid calendars that depend upon both the sun and moon. One example is the Chinese Rural Calendar, used to establish holidays, such as the Chinese new year, for the country and its diasporas. This calendar not only refers to movements of the moon and the sun, but also of 5 other planets.
I’ll close off with some observations. We refer to our epoch as Anno Domini (AD) – Latin for the ‘year of our Lord’, which assumes that year number one (1 AD) is that in which Jesus Christ was born. This system was started by Dionysius Exiguus, a monk living in the 6th century, who may have based it on parts of the Gospel of St Luke. Nevertheless, when in Maltese we refer to today’s year as 2019 after Christ, actually 2019 AD is 2018 years after 1 AD. So, AD and ‘after Christ’ are not exactly equivalent.
Therefore we can say that Christ was born 4 years before Christ.
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F’dan iż-żmien tas-sena, ikolli problema li probabbilment ħafna minnkom ukoll tgħaddu minnha, ċioè li niktbu s-sena inkorretta meta nkunu qiegħdin niktbu d-data. Il-problema tkun li tant inkunu drajna niktbu s-sena li tkun għaddiet li ma nkunux qiegħdin naħsbu meta niktbuha, u ġieli nibqgħu għaddejjin biha sakemm xi ħaġa (jew xi ħadd) tfakkarna li għadna ngħixu fis-sena ta’ qabel!
Probabbilment il-maġġoranza l-kbira tagħkom il-qarrejja, jagħmlu l-appuntamenti tagħhom skont sistema ta’ kalendarju li nbeda mill-Papa Gregorju XIII fil-1582, li għalhekk jissejjaħ Kalendarju Gregorjan.
Dan kien modifikazzjoni żgħira fuq il-Kalendarju Ġuljan, li kien stabbilit minn Ġulju Ċesri u nbeda fis-sena 46 q.K., li l-intenzjoni tiegħu kienet li jagħmel sistema b’regoli stabbiliti mingħajr il-bżonn ta’ interventi tal-qassis il-kbir ta’ Ruma (pontifex maximus), interventi li suppost kienu jsiru regolarment biex jaġġustaw is-sena mal-osservazzjonijiet astronomiċi tas-sena solari, imma li kienu saru politiċizzati u wasslu għal konfużjoni kbira. Dan il-Kalendarju Ġuljan kien ta’ tnax-il xahar b’365 ġurnata f’sena, u darba kull erba’ snin is-sena tkun ta’ 366 ġurnata, għalhekk medju ta’ 365.25 ġurnata fis-sena.
Is-sistema Ġuljana kienet stima pjuttost tajba għas-sena tropikali, li hija l-ammont ta’ ġranet għax-xemx biex tirritorna fl-istess pożizzjoni wara ċiklu wieħed sħiħ ta’ 4 staġuni, li huwa stmat li hu 365.2421 ġranet, imma xorta waħda dik id-differenza żgħira ta’ 0.0079 ġurnata fis-sena wasslet għal diskrepanza ta’ għaxart ijiem sas-sena 1582, u kienet qiegħda toħloq problema għall-Knisja Kattolika li kienet tagħżel il-festa tal-Għid b’riferenza għall-ekwinoss tar-rebbiegħa.
Il-Kalendarju Ġregorjan kkoreġa din id-diskrepanza billi ffissa l-aħħar ġurnata tal-Kalendarju Ġuljan tal-Ħamis 4 ta’ Ottubru 1582 , u beda l-kalendarju l-ġdid l-għada bħala l-Ġimgħa 15 ta’ Ottubru 1582. Apparti hekk, immodifika r-regola ta’ ġurnata żejda kull erba’ snin, biex din ma tkunx applikabbli jekk is-sena tista’ tiġi diviża eżattament b’100 imma tkun applikabbli jekk tiġi diviża b’400. Din il-modifika twassal għal sena medja ta’ 365.2425, li hija ħafna eqreb lejn is-sena tropikali.
Fil-bidu, il-Kalendarju Gregorjan kien biss applikabbli għall-Knisja Kattolika Rumana, u la kien aċċettat mill-knejjes insara l-oħra (Ortodossi u Protestanti) u lanqas ma kellu effett ċivili. Madankollu, maż-żmien beda jiġi adottat l-ewwel immedjatament mill-pajjiżi fejn il-Kattoliċeżmu kien qawwi (bħal Spanja, l-Italja, Franza u oħrajn), imbagħad matul is-sekli minn pajjiżi u imperi oħra, bħal dak Brittanniku fis-seklu 18, u ċ-Ċina u r-Russja fis-seklu 20.
Illum tista’ tgħid li l-Kalendarju Gregorjan huwa użat madwar id-dinja biex jiġu organizzati attivitajiet soċjali, reliġjużi, amministrattivi u oħrajn, u huwa utli bħala sistema magħrufa madwar id-dinja. Madankollu, dan ma jfissirx li kalendarji oħra m’għadhomx jintużaw għal skopijiet speċifiċi.
Il-Kalendarju Gregorjan huwa eżempju wieħed biss ta’ kalendarju solari, jiġifieri wieħed li jieħu bħala riferenza l-posizzjoni tax-xemx waqt l-ekwinoss. Apparti kalendarji antiki, hemm uħud li għadhom jintużaw, bħall-Ħiġri Solari fl-Iran (li jibda fil-20 jew 21 ta’ Marzu, u bħalissa qiegħdin fis-sena 1397) u l-Kalendarju Badi tal-fidi Bahá’í, li għandu snin ta’ dsatax-il xahar ta’ dsatax-il ġurnata u ġranet oħra miżjuda.
Hemm ukoll kalendarji qamrin, fejn in-numerazzjoni tal-ġranet tiddependi fuq iċ-ċikli tal-qamar. Wieħed li spiss nisimgħu bih huwa dak Islamiku, il-Ħiġri (mhux dak Solari), li jikkonsisti fi tnax il-xahar qamri f’sena ta’ 354 jew 355 ġurnata, li jintuża biex jistabbilixxu festi importanti bħar-Ramadan u l-perjodu propizju għall-pellegrinaġġ lejn Mekka.
Hemm ukoll kalendarji li jiddependu kemm fuq ix-xemx kif ukoll fuq il-qamar. Eżempju wieħed huwa l-Kalendarju Rurali taċ-Ċina, li jintuża biex jistabbilixxi l-btajjel (bħall-ewwel tas-sena Ċiniża) għall-pajjiż u d-dijaspori tiegħu. Dan il-kalendarju mhux biss jirreferi għall-movimenti tal-qamar u x-xemx, imma anke ta’ ħames pjaneti oħra.
Nagħlaq b’xi osservazzjonijiet. L-epoka tagħna nirreferu għaliha bħala Anno Domini (AD) – Latin għal ‘is-sena tal-Mulej’, għax tassumi li s-sena numru wieħed (1 AD) kienet dik li fiha twieled Ġesu Kristu. Din kienet sistema li nbdiet minn Dionysius Exiguus, patri li għex fis-seklu sitta, li jista’ jkun li bbażaha fuq partijiet mill-vanġelu ta’ San Luqa. Madankollu, meta bil-Malti ngħidu li s-sena tal-lum hija 2019 wara Kristu (w.K), proprjament 2019 AD huwa 2018 sena wara 1 AD. Għalhekk, AD mhux eżattament eqwivalenti għal w.K.
Allura nistgħu ngħidu li Kristu twieled erba’ snin qabel Kristu.
1http://www.drabruzzi.com/when_was_jesus_born.htm, retrieved 9/1/2019
1http://www.drabruzzi.com/when_was_jesus_born.htm, retrieved 9/1/2019
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