# Gregorian and Julian calendars **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966 "2020-12-01T23:48:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/81 "2021-03-08T20:32:50Z")
In the 1970s, the US stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year round for a year and a half - and school kids like me did walk to school in the dark (we were issued flashlights with red caps intended to help us cross streets without getting run down). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/82 "2021-03-08T21:06:42Z")
And nowadays, it’s already common for kids (and their teachers) to be going to school in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Honolulu\_Lulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@Honolulu\_Lulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honolulu_Lulu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/83 "2021-03-09T12:03:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > In the 1970s, the US stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year round for a year and a half - and school kids like me did walk to school in the dark (we were issued flashlights with red caps intended to help us cross streets without getting run down). My recollection is that the USA went to DST in early January 1974 only for that year. The Commerce Department realized that was a mistake. The start of Daylight Time for 1975 and later was moved from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. Yes, Kids were issued flashlights as a stop-gap measure for that year. The school committee in my town was considering adjusting school hours for the following year until Congress abandoned year-round DST. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/84 "2021-03-09T13:08:12Z")
Based on what I found, DST started in January 1974 and lasted until April of 1975 - so not quite a year and a half. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/85 "2021-03-09T17:05:50Z")
I was a student back then and it sucked walking to the school bus stop in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/86 "2021-03-09T17:09:35Z")
It also sucked to walk the several blocks to school in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Honolulu\_Lulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@Honolulu\_Lulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honolulu_Lulu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/87 "2021-03-09T17:28:18Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Based on what I found, DST started in January 1974 and lasted until April of 1975 - so not quite a year and a half. That law was superseded in October, 1974, to revert to Standard time from 27-OCT-1974 to 23-FEB-1975. Thence, Standard Time reverted to the late October to late April rule… The primary motivation was school children and construction workers who didn’t want to work in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/88 "2021-03-09T17:33:21Z")
Thanks. I misunderstood an article I read - the original plan was for DST to go until April 1975, but as you say, this was superseded in Oct 1974. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/89 "2021-03-09T18:23:32Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > But, that raises an interesting question. Is there anything to prevent a country from hypothetically going back to local time instead of zone time if it wanted to? Sure you could do it. If you really used local time, it would raise havoc with train and bus schedules. My father (b. 1906) told me that he remembered the town clock in Media, PA being 3 minutes behind the one on Philadelphia city hall. Standard Time was called Railroad Time in his youth. I really like the idea, mentioned above, of a 364 day calendar with a leap week added every five or six years. Sure people probably couldn’t work it out long in advance, but the calendar makers could. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/90 "2021-03-09T18:27:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > (Why, O Discourse gods, why is “Why?” not sufficient?) Try “Why??” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/91 "2021-03-09T20:47:39Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > yyyy/mm/dd solves all problems, is instantly recognizable regardless language and collates perfectly to boot. yy/mm/dd is good too but not completely idiot proof. I teach my student to use this date code (today is 210309) in computer science so they can easily tell their latest draft and as it sorts on name order their latest draft will always be at the top… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/92 "2021-03-09T20:49:12Z")
Growing up IIRC, Saudi Arabia was on solar time. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/93 "2021-03-09T22:17:59Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I teach my student to use this date code (today is 210309) You have less than 79 years until Y2.1K. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/94 "2021-03-09T22:24:48Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Is there anything to prevent a country from hypothetically going back to local time instead of zone time if it wanted to? A sovereign nation can do whatever it wants. If I remember correctly, Kiribati changed its time zone (from the far west to the far east) in the late 1990s specifically so that it would be the very first place to welcome the new millenium. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/95 "2021-03-10T00:07:10Z")
And I think China is just one time zone. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/96 "2021-03-10T00:28:21Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > A sovereign nation can do whatever it wants. If I remember correctly, Kiribati changed its time zone (from the far west to the far east) in the late 1990s specifically so that it would be the very first place to welcome the new millenium. That’s the reason lots of other people thought they did it, but not the reason they actually did it. Part of the country was almost full day (22 hours) behind the rest of it. This made for lots of administrative headaches, so they moved that small part (which had maybe 1000 people in it) forward by 24 hours to be on the same day as the rest of it. Becoming the first place for the millennium was an incidental side effect. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/97 "2021-03-10T00:42:14Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > And I think China is just one time zone. IIRC, India took 3 time zones and made them two, so that three hours are split into 2 90 minute zones and things may start at X:30 there when it is Y:00 where you are. Which was very confusing when trying to set up a meeting with my teams there. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/98 "2021-03-10T00:48:40Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I really like the idea, mentioned above, of a 364 day calendar with a leap week added every five or six years. Sure people probably couldn’t work it out long in advance, but the calendar makers could. Would we be switching to 13 months of exactly 4 weeks each, or just getting rid of December 31st? I like the former idea better, especially if the months started on a Monday. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/99 "2021-03-10T01:42:40Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A 12-month proposal is the [World Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Calendar) : > > First month of each quarter has 31 days. Other months have 30 days. > Each quarter begins on a Sunday, and each quarter ends on a Saturday. > This totals 364 days. > Saturday, December 30 is followed by an intercalary day (named “Worldsday”) followed by Sunday, January 1. > In leap years, Leap Year Day is a second intercalary day, between Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1. Which would make scheduling interesting for the Jews… ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966/100 "2021-03-10T11:26:06Z")
Here are some good articles on calendar reform: > **[Calendar reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_reform)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Calendar reform or calendrical reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar design. > The prime objective of a calendar is to unambiguously identify any day in past, present and future by a specific date in order to record or organize social, religious, commercial or administrative events. Recurring periods that contain multiple days, like weeks, mont... > **[World Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Calendar)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The World Calendar is a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930. > The World Calendar is a 12-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters. > Each quarter begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday. The quarters are equal: each has exactly 91 days, 13 weeks, or 3 months. The three months in each quarter have 31, 30, and 30 days respectively. Each quarter begins with the 31-day months of J... > **[Pax Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Calendar)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Pax calendar was invented by James A. Colligan, SJ in 1930 as a perennializing reform of the annualized Gregorian calendar. > The common year is divided into 13 months of 28 days each, whose names are the same as in the Gregorian calendar, except that a month called Columbus occurs between November and December. The first day of every week, month and year would be Sunday. > Unlike other perennial calendar reform proposals, such as the Internati... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gregorian-and-julian-calendars/926966.md?page=6)