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Knowledge Nugget: New Year’s Day in the Calendar
Subject: Art and Culture
(Relevance: In 2014, UPSC asked a question about the date in the Gregorian calendar for a normal year of 365 days that corresponds to Chaitra 1 of the national calendar based on the Saka Era. Therefore, it is important to understand the Gregorian calendar, the Saka Era, and the Vikram Era.)
Why in the news?
New Year’s Day (January 1), now a secular holiday in many parts of the world, is the first day of the Gregorian calendar, which began in Rennaisance-era Europe and continues to be in use.
The Gregorian calendar in current times is the de facto calendar in most countries. The Gazette of India, the Indian government’s authorized legal document, uses this calendar along with the Indian national calendar (the Shalivahana Shaka calendar).
Key Takeaways:
1. The Gregorian calendar was introduced into use by Pope Gregory XIII, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1582. It is based on the solar dating system that reformed the Julian calendar, which had been established by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 45 BC.
2. Romulus, the founder of Rome in the 8th century BCE, conceived the early Roman calendar. Numa Pompilius, who came to power a year later, made it a 12-month year by adding the months of Januarius and Februarius.
3. However, this calendar, which followed the lunar cycle, frequently fell out of sync with the seasons. Moreover, the pontifices, or the members of the council of priests assigned with the duty of overseeing the calendar, were often accused of adding days to interfere with election dates or extend a political term.
4. After Julius Caesar came to power in 46 BCE, he attempted to reform the calendar for which he took the advice of Alexandrian astronomer, Sosigenus. Caesar added 67 days to the year 46 BCE so that the new year in 45 BCE could begin on January 1. Under the Julian calendar, March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation), the day nine months before Christmas, was regarded as the beginning of the new year.
5. However, there was an error made by Caesar and Sosigenus in calculating the number of days in a solar year. The actual number of days in a solar calendar is 365.24199 as opposed to the 365.25 that Caesar had calculated. Consequently, there was a gap of 11 minutes every year, which added up to about 11 days by the year 1582.
6. Gregorian calendar, in order to fix the miscalculation of the Julian calendar, Aloysius Lilius, the Italian scientist who worked on the Gregorian calendar, devised a new system whereby every fourth year would be a leap year, but century years that were not divisible by 400 were exempted.
Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII (Wikimedia Commons)
7. Catholic countries like Italy, Spain, and Portugal were quick to adopt the new system. Protestant countries like England and Germany held off till about the end of the 18th century. The last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar was Greece in 1923.
8. There are some countries, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Israel, where the traditional calendar is used alongside the Gregorian one. In India, the Saka calendar which begins with the Chaitra month (March 21/22) is used along with the Gregorian calendar for most official purposes.
BEYOND THE NUGGET: Traditional calendars in India
1. Indian kings absolutely loved to declare new zero-dates when they started a new dynasty, to signify the beginning of a new glorious era. This new zero-date would be followed throughout their kingdoms, until they were replaced by a new dynasty, and a new calendar was inaugurated with a new zero-date!
2. Across India, hundreds of such calendars were created over the centuries, including the Gupta Era beginning in 319 AD, and the Harsha Era beginning in 606 AD. This made comparing days and years impossibly confusing for historians studying India!
3. There are two main calendars in common use in India today, the Vikram Samvat with a zero point of 57 BC and the Saka Samvat with a zero point of 78 AD. They are used for calculating the dates of all Hindu festivals like Diwali and Holi.
4. The Vikram Era was founded either by the Saka king Azes, or a legendary king called Vikramaditya, but we have no historical records of any Vikramaditya in that period. The Saka Era is speculated to have been founded either by the Kushan king Kanishka, or the king Shalivahan of central India.
5. Under the Saka era national calendar, for an ordinary year, New Year is on March 22. For a leap year, New Year is on March 23. Year 0 for this calendar was the vernal equinox (when day and night are equal) in 78 CE.
(Source: Explained: The Gregorian calendar, Why do we celebrate New Year on January 1?, Redraw the calendar)
For your queries and suggestions write at khushboo.kumari@indianexpress.com
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The first time January 1 came to be considered as the beginning of the new year was back in 45 BCE. (Source- Pixabay/edited by Gargi Singh) 
Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII (Wikimedia Commons)
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