Look before you Leap Year

Would we be better off without a leap day?

theAbysmal 13-month Calendar (fixed year)
theAbysmal 13-month Calendar (wandering year)

Most of the World’s solar calendars synchronize themselves with the Tropical Year through the periodic addition of an extra day. The Roman Julian Calendar had a leap day every four years, and this extended to the empire and to the Egyptian calendar as well.

Mind you, the Julian Calendar, still used by Eastern Orthodox and other churches, continues to fall out of synch with the Gregorian, and so the Tropical Year. Currently, Jan 1st on the Julian Calendar occurs Jan 14 on the Gregorian. This is also a type of Wandering Year.

It seems that Mesoamerican solar calendars are the only ones that continue to observe a wandering year or vague solar year – i.e. 365 continuous days without a leap day.

If Daylight Savings is cognitively harmful, then how does the leap day affect us? More importantly, why isn’t it a holiday? Part of the problem with Feb 29 as leap day is that it occurs 2 months into the year, when pretty much every other calendar inserts them at the end. The Roman Calendar used to begin Mar 1, and so Feb 29 would be the last day of the year, however, the new year date shifted, such that by 153 BC, Jan 1 was more commonly celebrated. The leap day didn’t change, because Dec 32 would not have been acceptable.

1460 Years

What happens without a leap day?

If we follow a calendar of 365 days, then the New Year falls one day earlier relative to the seasons (Solstices & Equinoxes) as well as fixed-year calendars. For example, theAbysmal Wandering Year began Dec 23 2012, then it changed to Dec 22 in 2016, Dec 21 in 2020, Dec 20 in 2024, etc. Eventually, the Wandering New Year will fall on Dec 23 again, after 1460 years.

While this may seem disorienting to many people unfamiliar with this kind of calendar, it does take some adjusting to. theAbysmal Calendar was a fixed year calendar for most of its existence, and only recently have the advantages of wandering & scattering years presented themselves.

theAbysmal Calendar continues to observe a fixed year in order to follow the World’s solar New Years, however, the principle 13-month calendar going forward will wander.

Why Wander?

There’s a passage in the Myths and Gods of India that puts the astronomical limitations of our current model of time into question.

“The planets whose motions determine the rhythms of relative time, the process of the phenomenal world, may well be regarded as the agencies of eternal laws which rule over our destinies, and viewed under this aspect they are spoken of as deities. So long as we are subject to the rule of the planetary rhythms we remain shut up within the realm of relative existence. It is only when the relative succession of time lapses, or somehow loses its significance, that we can attain rest within absolute time.”

The Hindu philosophy of time is rich and elaborate, however, it also covers infinitesimal and infinite (3+ trillion years, but still) measures. This generates a multi-dimensional model of time, of which the seasons and agricultural year are an integral part.

While theAbysmal marks planetary phenomena as part of the Lunar Calendar, the rest of the system explores all manner of different cycles. These are usually drawn from other calendars, ex. 400- and 819-day cycles are from Mesoamerica, however, they occasionally present themselves during experimentation, like the 729-day cycle.

Scattering Time

Market weeks and scattering years are uninterrupted cycles that don’t correlate to the seasons or fixed year, all of which began Jun 19 2012 at the New Moon to start Era 2. The weeks are from 3 to 13 days in length, the main scattering “years” are 360, 364, 385 days, however, many other possibilities exist. In any case, each cycle’s new year occurs further and further from Jun 19 over time, although at different rates (hence, scattering).

While it’s unrealistic to expect anyone to follow or adhere to all of these possible calendars, it’s useful to know that if one needs to schedule a short-term project by 12-day weeks over a 60-day period, then it’s already in place. What’s more, as there is a canonical 12-day week, by starting on the first day, it synchronizes everyone using the same system, regardless of what task they might be doing.

So many unexplored possibilities, and these pragmatic considerations are the least compelling. There’s wonders awaiting us in the near future, beloveds. Care to come along?

Calendar Round-Up

Some recent developments to theAbysmal Calendar system.

Today marks the last day of Year 8 (9~Tobacco). This blog won’t be updated much going forward, however, some changes to theAbysmal Calendar are worth noting.

357-day calendar
this was created to accommodate a 17-day week within theAbysmal year. There are 21 of them in a year. Likewise, there are 17 months of 21 days. There are 8 skip days to keep the calendar synchronized. First day falls on Jun 22.

Multiple Skip Days
I decided to consider different skipped days to avoid having them disrupt a week. As a result, there are several variations:

363-A
the 2 skipped days occur 77 days into the year, and 77 days before the end. This is to synchronize them with the 364-day and 260-day calendars.

363-B
the 2 skipped days occur between the 121-day terms.

361-A
the 4 skipped days include the same 2 as 363-A, as well as the first and last day of the year. This synchronizes with 364-day, 363-A, and 260-day calendars.

361-B
the 4 skipped days are distributed evenly within the symmetrical year:
4 x 19, skip, 4 x 19, skip, 3 x 19, skip, 4 x 19, skip, 4 x 19

360
All of the 360-day calendars use Dec 21. The variations occur in how the other four days are distributed.

360-A
this is the format used to create the wheel of the year. Each skipped day falls midquarter – Feb 5, May 7, Aug 6, Nov 5.
This synchronizes 365, 364, 363-A, 361-A, and 260-day calendars.
It accommodates the 3, 5, and 9-day weeks.

360-B
this format divides the year into even fifths of 72 days. This accommodates the most number of weeks: 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 12-day weeks all fit evenly into this arrangement.

360-C
this format divides the year to accommodate 30- and 60-day periods. The skipped days occur at: 60-days, skip, 60 days, skip, 120 days, skip, 60 days, skip, 60 days.
this accommodates the 3, 5, 6, and 10-day weeks.

360-D
this format divides the year to accommodate 20- and 40-day periods. The skipped days occur at; 80 days, skip, 80 days, skip, 40 days, skip, 80 days, skip, 80 days. This accommodates the 4, 5, 8, and 10-day weeks.

Granted, having so many iterations of the 5-day week going in and out of phase with each other might be problematic, but given how limited the Gregorian is, I don’t think it will present an issue for a while.

be well, beloveds.

Leap Day 2020

Yeah, it’s a thing. It’s not a holiday. It’s not a celebration. It’s a mathematical fudging to keep the year kind of synchronized with the Seasons.

AFAIK, it’s the only calendar (the Gregorian/Julian) that observes the leap day anywhere other than the last day of the year.

IF February 29th were the last day of the year, then a few things would fall into place. March 1st would be the New Year. September, October, November, December, which literally mean 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th months, yet we number 9, 10, 11, 12, will actually align with their names.

It also makes it clear that the Gregorian Calendar is dedicated, at its foundation, to the Roman God of War, hence, it begins with March 1st, the month of Mars. January, named after Janus, is the two-faced god. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

also, the period of the leap day, 1 every 4 years, with exceptions 3 years out of every 400, isn’t as accurate as alternative schedules. 1 exception every 128 years is closer to the Tropical Year, and the Persian schedule is smoother.

There are an awful lot of time frames to choose from, so why do we choose this one which is so awful?