Year of introduction of the new chronology. Slavic chronology: history

One of the main inventions of human civilization is the calendar. All modern calendars have their origins in ancient Egypt. Man has long begun to think about how to fix the phenomena occurring in the world around him. This primarily concerned the most important events in Everyday life, for example, determining the time of the flood of the Nile, which was the main source of the crop. The ancient Egyptians took the sunrise in the evening sky of the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, Sirius, as a landmark.

The history of the calendar

Modern calendars are based on the Roman solar calendar with the division of the year into months, weeks and days. It is clear that the basis for the daytime period is the alternation of daylight and darkness, which reflects the rotation of the Earth around its axis. The basis for the division of the year into months and weeks was the Moon, which revolves around the Earth in a synodic month equal to 29-odd days, while changing its phases. At different peoples and civilizations had their own calendar with different starting dates to count. As in their time in Egypt, so in ancient Rome, the Egyptian priests played a great role in the development of the calendar. The year in all solar calendars was considered according to the time of revolution of the Earth around the Sun. This is the length of the tropical year, it is 365.2522 days. The fundamental problems of all calendars were that the whole number of days did not fit into the length of the year. This introduced errors into all calendars and led to the need for constant revisions.

Introduction to the Julian calendar

The first global reformist step in improving the calendar was taken in ancient Rome during the reign of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 46 BC. e. He visited Egypt and studied the calendar that existed there, in which the length of the tropical year was set at 365.25 days. But since there can only be an integer number of days in a calendar year, the alternation of three years with 365 days was proposed, and the fourth with 366 - in February it had 29 days and was called a leap year. On average, the duration of the year was 365 days and 6 hours. The year in the new calendar began on January 1st. The names of the months were introduced even before Julius Caesar. However, as a sign of his great merits, one of the months of Quintilis was renamed Julius. Now we know it as July. Another month is named after the outstanding Roman emperor and public figure Octavian Augustus, in the Roman abbreviation Augustus. He has come down to our days as Augustus. The beginning of the era began to be considered from the foundation of Rome. Since then, attempts have been repeatedly made to change the name of the months in honor of different emperors, but they did not take root, and the names of the months have survived unchanged to this day.

The introduction of a new chronology in Russia

With the development of civilization, it became very inconvenient to have different calendars in different countries. Trade, navigation, travel expanded contacts between peoples who were not favored by the presence of different chronologies. In the era of Peter in Russia there was a Byzantine calendar. Its structure was the same as that of the Roman Julian with division into months, weeks and days, the new year fell on September 1, and the beginning of the chronology was considered from the creation of the world. Peter I made changes: the beginning of the new year moved to January 1, and the chronology began to be conducted from the Nativity of Christ. This event took place in 1700, although according to the Byzantine calendar it was 7208 from the creation of the world. Thus, Peter brought Russia closer to European civilization.

Background and introduction of the Gregorian calendar

A great influence on the reform of the calendar had Catholic Church due to the fact that the main church holidays fell on certain calendar dates. Since the Julian calendar was 365.25 days long and the tropical year was 365.2422 days long, the difference was 11 minutes and 14 seconds. The Julian calendar adopted for that period was late by this amount every year. One day late accumulated over 128 years. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, the main creeds were adopted, and church holidays such as Easter were established. The problem arising from the inaccuracy of the calendar affected the correct determination of the date of the Easter holiday. This date is closely associated with such celestial events as the spring equinox and full moon. Easter was usually celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox and the first full moon following it. In the year of the council, the vernal equinox was March 21. But, due to the difference in the duration of the Julian and tropical years, by the sixteenth century an error of 10 days had accumulated. The day of equality of day and night has smoothly moved to March 11. This was the impetus for the fact that Pope Gregory XIII, with the help of the scientist Luigi Luio, carried out a reform of the Julian calendar. The main postulates of the introduction of the new chronology were as follows:
The day of the spring equinox was again postponed to March 21, i.e. gone 10 days.
From a span of 400 years, 3 out of 100 leap years are removed, and there are 97 of them.
The introduction of the new chronology took place in 1582, and many Catholic powers switched to the new chronology. The rest of the countries have been transitioning for several decades, and some for hundreds of years. Not in all countries the introduction of the new chronology went smoothly. The adoption of the Gregorian calendar in Riga led to a popular uprising that lasted more than one year until the instigators were convicted and executed. In Russia, the transition to the Gregorian calendar occurred after the October Revolution. By government decree, after January 31, 1918, the arrival of February 14 began to be considered. This removed the accumulated difference of 13 days. Before the Bolsheviks came to power, the Orthodox Church prevented the introduction of a new chronology in Russia. And in monarchical Russia, the degree of influence of the church on power was very high. To date, almost all countries of the world have switched to a new chronology. The exceptions are countries such as Thailand and Ethiopia. Orthodox Church also uses the old Julian calendar. How important it is to use the same chronology in neighboring countries can be seen in the following example. There is a scientific study regarding the battle of Austerlitz when Napoleon won. Some scientists argue that it was the use of different calendars in the Russian and Austrian armies that caused inconsistent actions on the battlefield, which led to the defeat. To date, the accuracy of the Gregorian calendar is quite high. In the past few years, projects have been put forward to revise the current calendar. This concerned mainly the change in the number of days in months, but these proposals remain only projects.

Today, shortly before the new year, we would like to talk about the main calendars of the peoples of the world and the chronology systems that exist on the planet, because not everyone knows what date it is customary to celebrate this very new year, and not everyone knows what year we generally celebrate.

And there is nothing unusual that we are confused, because time is an amazing substance that cannot be touched and felt, the fourth dimension of our three-dimensional physical world. According to modern physicists - theorists, adherents of string theory, time does not exist.

But we are born, grow up, grow up, grow old and go somewhere... And our only constant companions on this planet are the measures of time - seconds, minutes, hours, years. Despite the fact that our planet is not so big, we do not yet have a single calendar - unified system chronology.

The main existing systems of reckoning

And, if in one part of the earth it is now 2014, then in another it is already 2500, in the third the 8th millennium has come! In this article we want to talk about some of the currently existing systems of chronology among various peoples of the world. And let's start with ourselves, namely with our ancestors, calendars and chronology of the Slavic peoples.

Chronology and Calendars of the Slavs

Our ancestors - the Ancient Slavs used the calendar, which is now known under the name - "Slavic Aryan" or "Vedic". It is still used by Yngliists - Old Believers, representatives of the most ancient stream of Slavic Aryans.

And it’s good that they kept it, because lately, more and more people are returning to their roots and want to study and use this valuable knowledge. Moreover, they are not outdated, but on the contrary, they provide answers to many questions that interest us today.

Slavic-Aryan calendar

The Slavic Aryan calendar was officially used in Russia for 7208 years! And time in that calendar was measured in "Circles of Life". One circle of life was equal to 144 years (as the year used to be called).

In one circle of life, our planet, which the Ancient Slavs called Mirgard, made a revolution around the center of the Universe, visiting all 16 "houses" in succession - so many constellations were distinguished by the Slavs, in contrast to the Chinese stellar calendar with its only 12 Constellation Houses.

What is the year of the Slavs now?

Now, according to the Slavic Aryan calendar, we live in 7523 years. The years are officially counted from the “Creation of the World in the Star Temple” - most sources say that there is a direct, rather than allegorical meaning here - meaning the signing of a peace treaty, between our Ancestors - representatives of the “Power of the Great Race” (Russia, Aryans) and “ Empire of the Great Dragon" (Modern China).

And the famous icon depicting, as they say, George the Victorious, killing the Dragon, actually illustrates those ancient events. Since China symbolizes a dragon or a snake.

What were the months, weeks and hours of the Slavs

Slavic-Aryan calendar calculated on the basis of the 16-digit system of calculus.

Respectively, The day of the Slavs consisted of 16 hours. They started in the evening. Each hour had its own name and was approximately equal to 90 minutes.

The month consisted of 40 days, and was called forty years.. (A reflection of this is the tradition that has survived to this day to celebrate the 40th day with the remembrance of the departed, which we have already written about separately, and 9 days exactly the same as it was Slavic week).

In addition, nine sorokovniks (months) - a whole summer (year) - is a complete cycle of our Earth's circulation around Yarila (Sun). Summer consisted of three seasons, three forties each - Spring, Winter, Autumn. Each sorokovnik had its own name and these names were very poetic and accurate:

"Fortieth White Radiance"

"Fortieth Awakening of Nature"

"Fortieth of Sowing and Naming".

Weeks in the calendar of our ancestors of the Slavs, as I said, consisted of nine days and were named after our planets solar system. There were even smaller parts of the measurement of time: an hour, a fraction, an instant, a moment, a sig.

To understand and admire the wisdom of our ancestors, I will say that - 1 sig is approximately equal to 30 oscillations of the electromagnetic wave of the cesium atom, taken as the basis for modern atomic clocks, and such a small fraction still does not exist in more than one clock in the world.

This fact alone shows how distorted the truth is by those who seek to show our ancient ancestors as illiterate savages!

Gregorian and Julian calendars

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar was introduced by Gaius Julius Caesar himself, the great commander and ruler of Rome. And it happened in 45 BC. With the introduction of Christianity into Russia by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the Grand Duke, approximately in the year 1000, the Julian calendar also began to spread widely among Slavic peoples and was used simultaneously with the Vedic.

All holidays of the Orthodox Church are calculated from that time to this day according to church calendar — Julian calendar.

Moreover, modern astronomers have recognized that the Julian calendar (old style) is actually more accurate from an astronomical point of view than the widely used Gregorian (new style), since it lags less behind astronomical (natural) cycles.

Gregorian calendar. New and modern chronology

So, in the summer of 7208, Peter the Great issues a Decree, according to which, on the territory of Russia, all previously existing calendars are abolished and the new chronology will start from the Nativity of Christ, then the year was 1700.

Why New Year's Day January 1st

The beginning of the year began to be celebrated on January 1, instead of the magical day of the autumn equinox, as was the case with the Slavs. This calendar is called the Gregorian calendar in honor of Pope Gregory 13, and is valid both in Europe and in the territories of countries former USSR and in many other countries of the world, for the convenience of people.

Have you ever wondered why the beginning of the year is celebrated on January 1st? On December 24, the entire Catholic world celebrates Christmas - the birthday of the baby Jesus. It is from this day that the current calendar begins.

Jesus was a Jew, and on the 8th day the Jews celebrate the rite of circumcision of male babies. This day was the transition from the old year to the new year! It is amazing that every year, gathering with loved ones around the New Year's table, we celebrate the Jewish rite of circumcision of the baby Jesus! But what is interesting is that in fact the Jews themselves have and widely use their own Jewish calendar.

Hebrew or Judaic calendar

The chronology according to the Jewish calendar is conducted from the creation of the world by the Lord. Which, according to the beliefs of the Jews, took place on October 7, 3761 BC - which is called Era from Adam.

The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. That is, both celestial bodies influence the length of the year. The average year is approximately equal to the Gregorian, but sometimes the values ​​\u200b\u200bcan fluctuate, and the difference is 30-40 days.

Another interesting point is that the Jewish calendar does not consist of numbers, but the letters of the alphabet are used. And it is read from right to left, like all books in Hebrew. Each month of the Jewish calendar has a zodiac sign.

Since ancient times, it has been customary to designate the 12 signs of the zodiac with the symbols of its constellations. Months are counted from spring, but New Year starts in autumn and is called Rosh Hashanah. In the evening, when three stars are visible in the sky, a new day begins.

Islamic calendar

In most countries whose dominant religion is Islam, there is a calendar - Islamic or Hijri. It is used both for religious purposes and as the main determinant of time.

Islamic is pure lunar calendar. Beginning of the month - new Moon, the week also consists of seven days, but the day off is Friday, there are only 12 months in a year.

The Muslim calendar is based on the year when the Prophet Muhammad made the Hajj from Mecca to Medina. (It was July 16, 622 Gregorian).

What year is it in the islamic calendar

Therefore, the Muslim New Year begins on the 1st of the month of Muharram. October 26, 2014 according to the Gregorian calendar 1436 Islamic calendar.

Islamic New Year is not a holiday in our understanding. On the eve of the evening, it is best for the faithful to fast, and on spend as much time as possible in prayer and good deeds in the name of the Almighty.

Oriental or Chinese calendar

In most countries of the Asian world, despite the official operation of the Gregorian calendar, the majority of the population uses the chronology system created several thousand years ago (approximately 3 thousand years BC) during the reign of Emperor Huang Di.

And him distinctive feature is that it is both solar-lunar. That is, all months begin with the beginning of a new moon.

When is Chinese New Year 2015?

New Year according to the Eastern calendar is celebrated on The second new moon after the winter solstice is between January 21st and February 21st.. And the New Year is a big and noisy holiday, with bright lights, firecrackers, festive processions and a lot of noise.

The Chinese calendar system is based on the astronomical cycles of the Sun, Earth, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The 60-year cycle includes a 12-year Jupiter cycle and a 30-year Saturn cycle.

The ancient Asians and the creators of this chronology system believed that the normal movement of Jupiter brings happiness, goodness and virtue.

They divided the path of Jupiter into twelve equal parts and gave them the name of a certain animal, thus the peoples of Asia created solar-Jupiter 12-year calendar cycle.

There is a legend according to which, when the Buddha decided to celebrate the first New Year, he invited all the animals living on earth. However, only 12 came to the holiday. Then the Buddha, as a gift, decided to give their names to the years, so that every person born in the year of a certain animal acquires the character traits of this animal, both good and bad.

For example, now, December 11, 2014, is the year of the Blue Wood Horse, and c On February 19, 2015, the Year of the Blue Wood Goat will begin..

Thai calendar

When travelers first come to the countries of the south - east Asia. They see with amazement that the term on the packaging of goods has long exceeded the middle of the third millennium.

What year is it in Thailand?

This is true, in the Kingdom of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and some other countries in 2015 will come - the year 2558! The chronology in these countries and among many Buddhists is from the day of Buddha Shakyamuni's departure to nirvana. Welcome to the future!

Moreover, almost every world religion I created my calendar, from the events that people wanted to perpetuate. So, for example, representatives of a fairly common religion at the present time - the Baha'is - created their own calendar.

Baha'i calendar

The Baha'i calendar is currently synchronized with the Gregorian calendar for convenience. It was originally introduced by the Báb. Nowruz - the first day of the New Year is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox (March 20-22).

The Baha'i calendar is based on a solar year of 365 days, 5 hours, and 50 incremental minutes. In the Baha'i calendar, a year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i.e. 361 days in total) with the addition of four (five in a leap year) days.

Celtic calendar (Irish)

For a long time, it was the Irish calendar that was used in the North Scandinavian countries, as well as in modern Ireland. The year was divided into four seasons. There are 13 months and one day in a year. Months are synchronized according to the lunar cycle. The names of the months correspond to the vowels of Ogham, the Celtic tree alphabet.

That is, this is the famous Druid calendar - a very complex system where the calculation of time takes into account both lunar and solar cycles.

Segments of time, approximately equal to our months, were given the names of trees. The biggest holidays were the days of equinox and solstice. However, about the Celtic calendar, modern researchers are hotly debating. Many scholars believe that the knowledge of the Druid Calendar is based on a misconception by several authors whose writings have become too widely circulated.

We do not undertake to judge, we just want to acquaint the reader with some of the existing or existing systems of chronology.

In an article devoted to world chronology systems, it is impossible to keep silent about the famous "Mayan Calendar".

Mayan calendar

We owe the popularization of knowledge about the Maya Indian tribes, not least, to the mystic and novelist Frank Waters, the author of many novels and the ancient civilizations of the Maya, the inhabitants of Central America who have gone into centuries.

The main book about the Mayan calendar, which also touches on the predictions of the ancient Mayan astrologers, was the "Book of the Hopi". An equally important role was played by “Mysticism of Mexico: The Coming of the Sixth Age of Consciousness” - this is an unusual mixture of Mayan and Aztec philosophy, where the author suggested that the end of the Mayan calendar will be the backdrop for the transformation of the spiritual consciousness of people around the world.

However, people have chosen to simplify the information presented in the book, perhaps for the sake of sensation, perhaps due to misunderstanding. And so the legend was born, according to which the Mayan Indians predicted the end of the world in 2012, and the Mayan calendar ended on this date.

On the contrary, scientists, researchers of this ancient artifact, say that the Mayan calendar has not yet been deciphered! The information contained in it may not even belong to the Mayan civilization, but is much older. And scientists all over the world are working on the code of this calendar.

Almost any calendar is a mathematical system, Russian mathematician Vladimir Pakhomov, published a book: “ The calendar is a coded message”, which simply stirred up public opinion.

The fact is that the author, with the help of knowledge of mathematical laws, managed to present the calendar as a numerical mathematical matrix. With the help of which you can "decipher" the messages contained in ancient calendars. The scientist is sure that these messages hide the knowledge that was saved for us by our ancient ancestors who came from distant planets.

But whether it is true or not, today we will not tell you, since this is a separate and very long story, which we will gradually tell about on our learning and self-development portal over time. And today we say goodbye to you, we wish you a good New Year, no matter what calendar and chronology system you do it, and next time we will tell you how it is customary to celebrate the New Year among other peoples of the world.

The modern system of chronology has a little more than two thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ and several hundred centuries before this event. However, before the advent of the Christian chronology, different nations had their own ways of measuring time. Slavic tribes are no exception. Long before the advent of Christianity, they had their own calendar.

Origin of the word "calendar"

According to the official version, the term "calendar" comes from Latin. In ancient Rome, debt interest was paid on the first days of each month, and data about them was recorded in a debt book called calendarium. Later, it was from the title of the book that the word “calendar” came from, which came to the Slavs with Christianity.

Some scientists believe that this term comes from the phrase "Kolyadin Dar" (Kolyada's gift), which was called the chronology. Slavic origin researchers consider quite possible. Some of them are sure that the Romans borrowed the word "calendar" from the Slavs, and not vice versa. Judge for yourself: there is no translation of the word calendarium, as well as an explanation of how it is connected with debts and books. After all, in Latin debt is debitum, and book is libellus.

The chronology from the Nativity of Christ

Today, our era from the birth of Christ is more than 2000 years old. However, the tradition of counting the year in this way has been used for about a thousand years, because even with the recognition of Christianity official religion Roman Empire, years continued to be counted from important secular dates. For the Romans, this was the year of the founding of Rome, for the Jews, the year of the destruction of Jerusalem, for the Slavs, the year of the creation of the world in the Star Temple.

But once the Roman monk Dionysius, compiling Easter tables, got confused among various systems chronology. Then he came up with universal system, Starting point which will be the year of the birth of Christ. Dionysius calculated the approximate date of this event and henceforth used the chronology called "from the Nativity of Christ."

This system became widespread after 200 years thanks to the monk Bede the Venerable, who used it in his historical work on the Anglo-Sanson tribes. Thanks to this book, the British nobility gradually switched to the Christian calendar, and after it the Europeans did it. But it took the church authorities another 200 years to start using the Christian chronology system.

The transition to the Christian chronology among the Slavs

IN Russian Empire, which at that time included many native Slavic lands of Belarus, Poland, Ukraine and other countries, the transition to the Christian calendar took place from January 1, 1700 to Many believe that Tsar Peter hated and tried to eradicate everything Slavic, including calendar, therefore introduced the Christian time system. However, it is most likely that the king was simply trying to put such a confusing chronology in order. Slavic rejection here, most likely, does not play a role.

The fact is that with the advent of Christianity to the Slavs, the priests actively tried to transfer the pagans to the Roman calendar. The people resisted and secretly adhered to the old calendar. Therefore, in Russia, in fact, there were 2 calendars: Roman and Slavic.

However, confusion soon began in the annals. After all, the Greek chroniclers used the Roman calendar, and the pupils of the monasteries Kievan Rus- Slavic chronology. At the same time, both calendars differed from the chronology of Dionysius adopted in Europe. To solve this problem, Peter I ordered the forcible transfer of the entire empire subject to him to the system of chronology dating from the birth of Christ. As practice showed, it was also imperfect, and in 1918 the country was transferred to a modern accounting system.

Sources of information about the Old Slavic calendar

Today there is no reliable data on how the real Old Slavic calendar looked like. The now popular "Krugolet Chislobog" was reconstructed on the basis of information from various historical sources of later periods. When reconstructing the Old Slavic calendar, the following sources were used:

• East Slavic folk ritual calendar. Written evidence of him dates back to the XVII-XVIII centuries. Despite such a "young" age, this calendar has retained a lot of information about the life of the Slavs during the time of pagan Russia.
• Church calendar "Months". In the process of Christianization of Russia, church authorities often celebrated Christian holidays on important pagan holidays. Comparing the dates of holidays from the Monthly Book with dates from other calendars, as well as from folklore sources, it is possible to calculate the time of important ancient Slavic holidays.
• In the 19th century, about 400 gold plates with inscriptions were found on the site of the Vedic temple in Romania, later called “Santii Dacov”. Some of them are over 2000 years old. This find not only testifies to the presence of writing among the ancient Slavs, but also is a source of information about the eras of ancient Slavic history.
• Chronicles.
• archaeological finds. Most often these are ritual ones with the image of calendar symbols. The most informative are the clay vases of the Chernyakhov Slavic culture (III-IV centuries AD).

Epochs of the ancient Slavs

According to the information contained in the "Santia Dacians", the history of the ancient Slavs has 14 eras. The most important event that served as the starting point for the calendar was the approach of the solar and two other planetary systems, as a result of which earthlings observed three suns in the sky at once. This epoch was called the "Time of the Three Suns" and was dated 604387 (in relation to 2016).

• In 460531, aliens from the constellation Ursa Minor arrived on Earth. They were called Da'Aryans, and this era was called the "Time of Gifts."
• In 273910, aliens again arrived on Earth, but this time from the constellation Orion. They were called Kh'aryans, and in honor of them the era is called the "Time of Kh'Arr".
• In 211699, the next visit of extraterrestrial beings took place, marking the beginning of the "Svag Time".
• In 185779, the rise of one of the four most important cities of the Daaria continent, Tula, began. This city was famous for its skilled craftsmen and flourished for almost 20,000 years. This period of time was called "Thule Time".
• In 165,043, Perun's daughter, the goddess Tara, brought many seeds to the Slavs, from which numerous forests subsequently grew - this is how the "Time of Tara" began.
• In 153349, a grandiose war of Light and Darkness took place. As a result, one of Lutitia's satellites was destroyed, and its fragments became an asteroid ring - this is the Assa Dei era.
• In 143,003, earthlings, with the help of scientific achievements, were able to drag a satellite from another planet, and the Earth, which already had two satellites at that time, had three of them. In honor of this momentous event, the new era is called the “Period of Three Moons”.
• In 111 819, one of the three moons was destroyed and its fragments fell to Earth, sinking the ancient continent of Daaria. However, its inhabitants escape - the era of the "Great Migration from Daaria" began.
• In 106791, the city of the Gods Asgard of Iri was founded on the Irtysh River, and new system chronology was conducted from the year of its foundation.
• In 44560, all the Slavic-Aryan clans united to live together on the same territory. From that moment, the era of the "Creation of the Great Kolo Rasseniya" began.
• In 40017, Perun arrived on Earth and shared his knowledge with the priests, because of which there was a grand leap in the development of human technologies. Thus began the era of the "Third Arrival of the Whiteman Perun".
• In 13021, another satellite of the Earth was destroyed and its fragments, having fallen on the planet, affected the tilt of the axis. As a result, the continents broke apart and icing began, called the era of the "Great Cooling" (Cold). By the way, in terms of time frame, this period coincides with the last ice age of the Cenozoic era.

Modern humanity lives in an era that began counting years from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. The age of this era today is more than 7.5 thousand years.

George the Victorious and the era of the creation of the world in the Star Temple

As you know, the word "world" has several meanings. Yes, the title modern era often interpreted as the time of the creation of the universe. However, "peace" also means reconciliation between warring parties. In this regard, the name "Creation of the World in the Star Temple" has a completely different interpretation.

Shortly before the first year "from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple" was marked, a war broke out between the Slavic tribes and the Chinese. With huge losses, the Slavs managed to win, and on the day of the autumn equinox, peace was concluded between the two peoples. To celebrate this significant event, it was made the starting point of a new era. Subsequently, in many works of art, this victory was allegorically depicted in the form of a knight (Slavs) and a slaying dragon (Chinese).

This symbol was so popular that with the advent of Christianity it could not be eradicated. From the time of Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise, the knight who defeated the dragon was officially named George (Yuri) the Victorious. Its significance for the Slavs is also evidenced by the fact that the cult of George the Victorious was very common among all Slavic tribes. In addition, at different times, Kyiv, Moscow, and many other ancient Slavic cities were depicted on the coat of arms of this saint. Interestingly, the story of St. George is popular not only among Orthodox and Catholics, but also among Muslims.

The structure of the Old Slavic calendar

The Old Slavic calendar refers to one complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun not as a year, but as a summer. It consists of three seasons: autumn (autumn), winter and spring. Each season included 3 months of 40-41 days each. A week in those days consisted of 9 days, and a day - of 16 hours. The Slavs did not have minutes and seconds, but there were parts, fractions, moments, moments, whitefish and santigs. It is difficult to even imagine what level the technology should have been if there were names for such short periods of time.

Years in this system were measured not in decades and centuries, as today, but in 144-year cycles: 16 years for each of the 9 constellations of the Svarog Circle.

Each ordinary year from the creation of the world consisted of 365 days. But the leap year 16 had as many as 369 days (each month in it consisted of 41 days).

New Year among the ancient Slavs

Unlike the modern calendar, in which the New Year begins in the middle of winter, the Slavic chronology considered autumn to be the beginning of the year. Although the opinions of historians differ on this issue. Most scientists believe that the New Year was originally on the day of the autumn equinox, which helped to more accurately adjust the calendar for the Slavs from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. However, according to Byzantine tradition, they tried to postpone the beginning of the new year to the first month of spring. As a result, there were not only two calendars in parallel, but also two traditions to celebrate the New Year: in March (like the Romans) and in September (like in Byzantium and the Slavs).

Months of the ancient Slavs

The first month of the ancient Slavic nine-month calendar was called Ramhat (beginning September 20-23), followed by the winter months Aylet (October 31 - November 3), Beylet (December 10-13) and Gaylet (January 20-23).

The spring months were called Daylet (March 1-4), Ailet (April 11-14) and Veylet (May 21-24). After that, autumn began, consisting of the months of Haylet (July 1-4) and Taylet (August 10-13). And the next, autumn month of Ramhat was the beginning of the New Year.

With the adoption of Christianity instead of Roman, Slavic names were given to the months. With the establishment of a new calendar by Peter I, Latin names were returned to the months. They remained in the modern Russian language, while the fraternal peoples retained or returned the familiar Slavic names of the months.

It is not known for certain what they were called with the advent of Christianity before the reform of Peter I, however, there are several options reconstructed thanks to the folklore of various Slavic peoples.

Week with the Slavs

The question of the number of days in a week before the reform of Peter I remains controversial to this day. Many argue that there were 7 of them - hence the surviving names in all

However, if you think about the words from The Little Humpbacked Horse, it becomes surprising how the text of 1834 mentions such a day of the week as the “eight”, which precedes another day - the “week”.

It turns out that the memories of the nine-day week remained in the memory of the Slavs, which means that initially there were only 9 days.

How to calculate the year according to the Old Slavic calendar?

Today, many Slavs are trying to return to the traditions of their ancestors, including their calendar.

But modern world living according to the Christian calendar requires a person to be able to navigate in this reference system of years. Therefore, everyone using the Slavic chronology (from the creation of the world) should know how to translate years from it into the Christian system. Despite the obvious differences between both systems of reckoning, this is easy to do. It is necessary to add the number 5508 (the difference in years between systems) to any date of the Christian calendar, and it will be possible to translate the date into the Slavic chronology. What year is it now according to this system can be determined by the following formula: 2016 + 5508 = 7525. However, it should be borne in mind that modern year begins in January, and among the Slavs - from September, so for more accurate calculations, you can use the online calculator.

More than three hundred years have passed since the inhabitants of the Russian Empire stopped using the Slavic calendar. Despite its accuracy, today it is only history, but it should be remembered, since it not only included the wisdom of the ancestors, but was also part of the Slavic culture, which, despite the opinion of Peter I, was not only not inferior to European, but also in surpassed her in some things.

- a number system for long periods of time, based on the periodicity of the visible movements of celestial bodies.

The most common solar calendar is based on the solar (tropical) year - the time interval between two successive passages of the center of the Sun through the vernal equinox.

A tropical year is approximately 365.2422 mean solar days.

The solar calendar includes the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar, and some others.

The modern calendar is called the Gregorian (new style) and was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and replaced the Julian calendar (old style) that had been in use since the 45th century BC.

The Gregorian calendar is a further refinement of the Julian calendar.

In the Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar, the average length of the year in the interval of four years was 365.25 days, which is 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the tropical year. Over time, the onset of seasonal phenomena according to the Julian calendar fell on ever earlier dates. Particularly strong discontent was caused by the constant shift in the date of Easter, associated with the spring equinox. In 325, the Council of Nicaea issued a decree on a single date for Easter for all christian church.

© Public Domain

© Public Domain

In the following centuries, many proposals were made to improve the calendar. The proposals of the Neapolitan astronomer and physician Aloysius Lilius (Luigi Lilio Giraldi) and the Bavarian Jesuit Christopher Clavius ​​were approved by Pope Gregory XIII. On February 24, 1582, he issued a bull (message) introducing two important additions to the Julian calendar: 10 days were removed from the 1582 calendar - after October 4, October 15 immediately followed. This measure made it possible to keep March 21 as the date of the vernal equinox. In addition, three out of every four century years were to be considered ordinary and only those divisible by 400 were leap years.

1582 was the first year of the Gregorian calendar, called the new style.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced at different times in different countries. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Holland and Luxembourg were the first to adopt the new style in 1582. Then in the 1580s it was introduced in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary. In the XVIII century, the Gregorian calendar began to be used in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland, in the XIX century - in Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in China, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

In Russia, along with the adoption of Christianity (X century), the Julian calendar was established. Since the new religion was borrowed from Byzantium, the years were counted according to the Constantinople era "from the creation of the world" (for 5508 BC). By decree of Peter I in 1700, Russia introduced european reckoning- "from the Nativity of Christ."

December 19, 7208 from the creation of the world, when the reformation decree was issued, in Europe corresponded to December 29, 1699 from the birth of Christ according to the Gregorian calendar.

At the same time, the Julian calendar was preserved in Russia. The Gregorian calendar was introduced after the October Revolution of 1917 - from February 14, 1918. The Russian Orthodox Church, preserving traditions, lives according to the Julian calendar.

The difference between the old and new styles is 11 days for the 18th century, 12 days for the 19th century, 13 days for the 20th and 21st centuries, 14 days for the 22nd century.

Although the Gregorian calendar is quite consistent with natural phenomena, it is also not completely accurate. The length of the year in the Gregorian calendar is 26 seconds longer than the tropical year and accumulates an error of 0.0003 days per year, which is three days in 10 thousand years. The Gregorian calendar also does not take into account the slowing of the Earth's rotation, which lengthens the day by 0.6 seconds per 100 years.

The modern structure of the Gregorian calendar also does not quite meet the needs public life. Chief among its shortcomings is the variability of the number of days and weeks in months, quarters and half-years.

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

- Theoretically, the civil (calendar) year should have the same duration as the astronomical (tropical) year. However, this is impossible because the tropical year does not contain an integer number of days. Because of the need to add extra days to the year from time to time, there are two types of years - ordinary and leap years. Because a year can start on any day of the week, this gives seven types of common years and seven types of leap years, for a total of 14 types of years. For their full reproduction, you need to wait 28 years.

— The length of the months is different: they can contain from 28 to 31 days, and this unevenness leads to certain difficulties in economic calculations and statistics.|

- neither normal nor leap years do not contain an integer number of weeks. Half-years, quarters and months also do not contain a whole and equal amount weeks.

- From week to week, from month to month and from year to year, the correspondence of dates and days of the week changes, so it is difficult to establish the moments of various events.

In 1954 and 1956, the drafts of the new calendar were discussed at the sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), but the final decision on the issue was postponed.

In Russia, the State Duma was proposing to return the Julian calendar in the country from January 1, 2008. Deputies Victor Alksnis, Sergey Baburin, Irina Savelieva and Alexander Fomenko proposed to establish a transitional period from December 31, 2007, when the chronology will be carried out simultaneously according to the Julian and Gregorian calendar. In April 2008, the bill was voted down by a majority vote.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources