Amazon
news

STORY:
Is It Really the Millennium or What?

by Clark Humphrey

Some nitpickers insist the new millennium won't start until the year 2001.

Their justification: There was no Year Zero (despite a '50s science fiction film, "Panic in the Year Zero"). So a decade, century, or millennium doesn't really start with a "zero" year but a "one" year.

But these well-meaning attempts at precision ignore the fact that calendar-making has always been a less than precise art.

As University of Florida computer-network administrator Thomas Hintz writes, "The calendar is a man-made device. It is an artificial method for defining the passage of time."

Most civilizations have tried to divide time according to the cycles of the sun and moon, to the best of their ability to do so. But the names of these divisions, and their start and end points, are a matter of human creativity.

The Western World runs on the Gregorian Calendar, established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and based largely on the suggestions of Naples physician Aloysius Lilius and Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius. Gregory wanted a more accurate calendar than the Julian system, which had been Europe's standard since the days of ancient Rome. It was Lilius who came up with the concept of leap years, to make up for the fact that the solar year takes a little longer than 365 exact days. He also erased eleven days, to make up for past slippage. The first day of the Gregorian Calendar, October 15, 1582, directly followed October 4, 1582 under the Julian Calendar.

Some European countries (particularly Catholic countries) adopted the Gregorian Calendar right away; others took a while. Great Britain and its colonies didn't adopt it until 1752. That's why George Washington was born on a February 11, but his birthday was celebrated with a holiday on February 22, until it was morphed into the always-on-a-Monday Presidents' Day. (Some other nations didn't fully go Gregorian until the 1920s.)

If that's not confusing enough, the Gregorian Calendar was back-dated to start with what religious scholars at the time believed to have been the year Jesus Christ was born. But even that's become a matter of latter-day disputes. Some historians now believe Jesus could have been born anywhere from two years before to five years after the now-official Year 1.

So, since year-numbering is so arbitrary, go ahead and celebrate the millennium on 1/1/2000. Then next year, you can join the nitpickers and celebrate the millennium all over again.

Clark Humphrey's is contributing writer to Everything2000. His pop-culture report is now daily at WWW.MISCMEDIA.COM.

DATE: 09/08/99

For more E2000 stories, click here:
news | events | Y2K | today's news

clear

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Email
Everything 2000

News
Event News
What is Y2K?
When does the Millennium begin?

Millennium Party Tips

Millennium Weddings


square Mega-events
square United States
square Canada
square South America

square Europe
square Great Britain
square Africa
square Middle East
square Asia
square Down Under
square Antarctica
square Cruises

Marketplace
square Books
square Collectibles
square Celebration Supplies
square General Merchandise
square Travel Packages

Trademarks
Y2K Humor
Bugs 2000
kidd millennium

Books
square general
square historical
square goal setting
square spirituality
square prophecy

Resources
square organizations
square celebrations
square online
square global community
square peace
square religion
square environment
square apocalypse
square space

HR


Everything 2000
Home | Todays News | Everything Weekly
Year 2000 Books and Videos | Links


© Copyright 2000. EverythingHolidays.com, Inc. and symbol is a trademark. Everything 2000
is a registered trademark of EverythingHolidays, Inc. All rights reserved.

Adhost.com