Alain LaBonté scripsit:
> Let me just notice that the difference in days between the Western European
> Christmas and the Orthodox Christmas is just that, 13 days!!! The Orthodox
> never did reform their calendar... They celebrate Christmas on January 7!!!
Umm, no. Remember, several Julian leap years have passed since then.
The bull "Inter Gravissimas" whereby Pope Gregory XIII proclaimed
the calendar reform was issued in 1582, at which time the discrepancy
was 10 days. However, the various countries of Europe cut over at
different dates from 1582 itself (most Catholic countries) to 1924 (Greece;
some sources say 1920), according to the following schedule:
Changeovers in the 1500s required 10 days to be dropped.
Changeovers in the 1600s required 10 days to be dropped.
Changeovers in the 1700s required 11 days to be dropped.
Changeovers in the 1800s required 12 days to be dropped.
Changeovers in the 1900s required 13 days to be dropped.
If we project this schedule before 1582, remembering that 0 (= 1 B.C.), 400,
800, and 1200 are leap years on both systems, we find that the
Gregorian and Julian calendars are exactly aligned in the years 100-199,
suggesting an anomaly of some sort, since Julius Caesar established
the Julian calendar in -42 (= 43 B.C.).
> Alain laBonté
> Québec
AFAIK Quebec has always been on the Gregorian calendar since the
beginning of European settlement there (France changed over in 1582).
-- John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_
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