New program"Calendar Design" allows you to create stylish calendars of any format and style. Distribution size - 156 Mb. The program works for all Windows versions, including Windows 7, XP, Vista, Windows 8 and 10. Purchase full version made through the most reliable online stores with delivery in 10 minutes.

User Reviews

For a long time I chose the right program for creating calendars. When I tried Calendar Design, I immediately realized that this is what I need. The program has everything that can be useful for making calendars at home!

Alena Morozova, Moscow

Calendar Design is a very high quality and thoughtful program. Undoubtedly the best in Russian market. I personally was struck by the variety of calendars and virtually unlimited design possibilities.

Vyacheslav Titov, Khabarovsk

Calendar - history and modernity

Initially, the calendar served as a system for counting the days of the year and was based on a periodic change in the movements of celestial bodies. However, in different historical periods different cultures unequally interpreted the principles that should underlie the creation of the calendar, hence the variety of types of calendars, as well as numerous disputes that continue to this day. In this article, we will talk about the different types of calendars and how to create a calendar yourself using special software.

What is a calendar

According to Wikipedia, Calendarium is a debt book that was settled on calendar days, that is, on the first days of the month. Different peoples used their own ways of dating historical events, for example, the Romans counted from the founding of Rome, and the ancient Egyptians - from the beginning of the reign of a new dynasty.

Types of calendars

Translation from one chronology system to another sometimes causes significant difficulties due to the different lengths of the year, as well as the unequal date of the beginning of the year in different systems.

IN ancient greek calendar the year contained 354 days. However, due to the discrepancy with the solar year by 11.25 days, every eight years, ninety additional days were added to the year, divided into three equal months.

Initially ancient roman calendar consisted of 304 days divided into 10 months, and the first month of the year was considered the date - the first of March. Subsequently, the Roman calendar underwent numerous reforms, in particular, two more months were added, and the date of the new year was also changed from the first of March to the first of January.

Introduction Julian calendar was also associated with the name of Julius Caesar, who sought to link calendar dates with seasonal natural phenomena. Julius established the length of the year as 365.25 days. According to the Julian calendar, every four years there is a leap year, which lasts 366 solar days. Orientation to the solar cycle made it possible to avoid unnecessary "inserts" in the calendar (with the exception of the leap year), as well as to bring the calendar dates closer to the natural cycle.

Gregorian calendar was introduced under Pope Gregory XIII and designated as the "new style" instead of the "old style" (Julian calendar). The purpose of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar was to return the real date of the vernal equinox - March 21, established back in the days of the Council of Nicaea, which approved Paschal. The Gregorian calendar is as close as possible to the tropical year, the difference is only 26 seconds. This difference will reach a day in 3333 years, but to compensate for this error, a special rule was introduced in the Gregorian calendar, based on the fact that three leap years should be excluded from every 400 years. This could correct the calendar so much that an error of one day did not occur until a hundred thousand years later. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in Russia only in 1918, the difference between the new and old styles in the 21st century was 13 days.

Other classifications

There are other types of calendars that basically contain different systems of chronology: Egyptian, Jewish, Muslim, Chinese, etc.

At the heart of any calendar, with rare exceptions, is the cyclicity of the two main celestial bodies - the moon and the sun. In connection with this, there are three main types of calendars.

1. Lunar calendar. It is based on a cyclic change lunar phases during a synodic month of 29.53 days. Thus, the lunar year contains 354.37 days. The main disadvantage of this calendar is that it does not take into account the fractional part, and for every 30 years an extra 11 days accumulate. A typical example of the lunar calendar is the Muslim calendar.

2. Solar calendar is based on the annual solar cycle and has a duration of 365.24 days. To eliminate the resulting error, a special leap year is introduced every four years, containing an extra day. The main dates that such a calendar focuses on are the days of the equinox and the solar solstice. The Gregorian calendar is solar.

3. Lunisolar calendar. As the name implies, this is an attempt to connect two types of calendars and, accordingly, to coordinate two cycles - lunar and solar. It is rather complicated both in calculations and in application. For example, to eliminate discrepancies, an additional thirteenth month is added every two or three years. An example is the Jewish calendar.

How to make a calendar on a computer?

Thus, the calendar from time immemorial served not only as a means of measuring time intervals, but also helped to organize the lives of people and their labor activity. The calendar has not lost its functions to this day. It is difficult to do without a calendar both at home and at work. Using the calendar, we plan upcoming trips, determine the number of working days in a year, specify the dates of state or church holidays. You can find on store shelves great amount calendars of various designs.

But a much more pleasant and original solution would be a calendar that you make yourself. Using the editor "Calendar Design" from AMS Software, you will be able to prepare beautiful photos with just a few minutes! All you have to do is choose a calendar style, add a photo, and your stylish calendar is ready! Such a calendar will be a good addition to your image and a great gift for any holiday.

Astronomy and calendar

Using the calendar, hardly anyone thinks that astronomers have struggled with compiling it from time immemorial.

It seems to count the day by the change of day and night, which is easier. But, in reality, the problem of measuring very long periods of time, in other words, creating a calendar, is extremely difficult. And without watching celestial bodies don't solve it.

If people, and then scientists, simply agreed on some units of measurement (meter, kilogram), and many others are derivatives of them, then the units of time were given by nature. A day is the duration of one rotation of the Earth around its axis. A lunar month is the time during which a full cycle of lunar phases occurs. A year is the duration of one revolution of the Earth around the Sun. It seems to be simple. So what's the problem?

But the fact is that all three units depend on completely different natural phenomena and do not stack one into the other an integer number of times.

Moon calendar

It is difficult to determine the beginning of a new day and a new year. But the beginning of the lunar month is simple, just look at the moon. The beginning of a new month was determined by the ancients from observations of the first appearance of a narrow crescent after the new moon. Therefore, ancient civilizations used the lunar month as the main unit of measurement for long periods of time.

The true duration of the lunar month is on average 29 and a half days. The lunar months were taken to be of different lengths: they alternately turned out to be 29 or 30 days. An integer number of lunar months (12 months) totaled 354 days, and the length of a solar year was 365 full days. lunar year turned out to be 11 days shorter than the solar one, and they had to be brought into line. If this is not done, then the beginning of the year lunar calendar over time will move through the seasons. (winter, autumn, summer, spring). It is impossible to tie to such a calendar either the conduct of seasonal work or the conduct of ritual events related to the solar annual cycle.

At different times, this task was solved in different ways. But the approach to solving the problem was the same: in certain years, an extra month was inserted into the lunar calendar. The best convergence of the lunar and solar calendars gives a 19-year cycle, in which 7 additional lunar months are added to the lunar calendar within 19 solar years according to a certain system. The duration of 19 solar years differs from the duration of 235 lunar months by only 2 hours.

For practical use the lunar calendar is not very convenient. But in Muslim countries it is accepted today.

solar calendar

The solar calendar appeared later than the lunar one, in Ancient Egypt, where the annual floods of the Nile are very regular. The Egyptians noticed that the beginning of the Nile floods closely coincides with the appearance of the brightest star above the horizon - Sirius, in Egyptian Sothis. Observing Sothis, the Egyptians determined the duration of the solar year, equal to the full 365 days. They divided the year into 12 identical months of 30 days each. And five extra days of each year were declared holidays in honor of the gods.

But the exact length of the solar year is 365.24…. days. Every 4 years, the unaccounted 0.24 days accumulated almost into a full day. Each period of four years came a day earlier than the previous one. The priests knew how to correct the calendar, but did not do it. They considered it a blessing that Sothis Rising occurs alternately for all 12 months. The beginning of the solar year, determined by the rising of the star Sothis, and the beginning of the year according to the calendar coincided after 1460 years. Such a day and such a year were solemnly celebrated.

Calendar in ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, the calendar was distinguished by rare confusion. All months in this calendar, with the exception of the last, Februarius, contained a lucky odd number of days - either 29 or 31. There were 28 days in Februarius. There were 355 days in total in the calendar year, 10 days less than it should have been. Such a calendar needed constant corrections, which was made the duty of the college of pontiffs, members of the high caste of priests. The pontiffs eliminated the inconsistencies in the calendar with their power, adding additional days to the calendar at their own discretion. The decisions of the pontiffs were brought to general information heralds who announced the appearance of additional months and the beginning of new years. Calendar dates were associated with the payment of taxes and interest on loans, the entry into office of consuls and tribunes, the dates of holidays and other events. By making changes to the calendar in one way or another, the pontiffs could hasten or delay such events.

Introduction to the Julian calendar

Julius Caesar put an end to the arbitrariness of the pontiffs. On the advice of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, he reformed the calendar, giving it the very form in which the calendar has survived to this day. The new Roman calendar was called the Julian. The Julian calendar came into effect on January 1, 45 BC. e Year according to the Julian calendar contained 365 days, every fourth year was a leap year. In such years, an extra day was added in February. Thus, the average length of the Julian year was 365 days and 6 hours. This is close to the length of the astronomical year (365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes, 46.1….. seconds), but still differs by 11 minutes from it.

Adoption of the Julian calendar by Christendom

In 325, the first Ecumenical (Nicene) Council was held Christian Church, who approved the Julian calendar for use throughout Christendom. At the same time, the movement of the Moon with the change of its phases was introduced into the Julian calendar, strictly oriented to the Sun, that is, the solar calendar was organically connected with the lunar calendar. The year of the proclamation of Diocletian as Roman emperor, 284 according to the current reckoning, was taken as the beginning of the chronology. The day of the spring equinox accepted calendar arrived on March 21st. From this day the main date is calculated Christian holiday- Easter.

The introduction of the chronology from the birth of Christ

In the year 248 of the era of Diocletian, the abbot of the Roman monastery, Dionysius the Lesser, raised the question of why Christians are counting the years from the accession of a furious persecutor of Christians. Somehow he determined that the year 248 of the era of Diocletian corresponds to the year 532 from the birth of Christ. The proposal to count the years from the birth of Christ did not at first attract attention. Only in the 17th century did the introduction of such a chronology begin throughout the Catholic world. Finally, in the 18th century, scientists adopted the Dionysian chronology, and its use became widespread. Years began to count from the birth of Christ. This is our era.

Gregorian calendar

The Julian year is 11 minutes longer than the solar astronomical year. For 128 years, the Julian calendar lags behind nature by a day. In the 16th century, since the Council of Nicaea, the vernal equinox has receded to March 11. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII approved a draft calendar reform. In 400 years, 3 leap years are skipped. Of the “secular” years with two zeros at the end, only those whose first digits are divisible by 4 without a remainder should be considered leap years. Therefore, 2000 is a leap year, and 2100 will not be considered a leap year. The new calendar was called the Gregorian. According to the decree of Gregory XIII, after October 4, 1582, October 15 came immediately. In 1583, the vernal equinox again fell on March 21st. The Gregorian calendar or the new style also has an error. The Gregorian year is 26 seconds too long. But a shift of one day will accumulate only over 3,000 years.

According to what calendars did they live in Russia

In Rus', in pre-Petrine times, the Julian calendar was adopted with a count of years according to the Byzantine model "from the creation of the world." Peter 1 introduced in Russia old style, Julian calendar with a count of years "from the birth of Christ." A new style or the Gregorian calendar was introduced in our country only in 1918. At the same time, after January 31, February 14 immediately frowned. Only since that time, the dates of the events taking place according to the Russian calendar and according to the calendar of Western countries began to coincide.

A calendar is usually called some system by which it becomes possible to differentiate the flow of time into certain intervals, which helps to streamline the course of life. Throughout the history of mankind, there have been a huge number of calendars, and they were based on different principles. In this article, we will discuss calendars, and also talk about what form our modern system countdown.

Origin of the word "calendar"

Before proceeding to the description of the types of number systems themselves, let's find out where the word denoting them comes from. The term "calendar" etymologically goes back to the Latin verb caleo, which translates as "proclaim". Another variant that has become the origin of the word "calendar" is the calendarium. Last in Ancient Rome called the debt book. Caleo preserves for us the memory that in Rome the beginning of each month was solemnly proclaimed in a special way. And as for the debt book, its significance is due to the fact that all interest on debts and loans in Rome was paid on the first day.

Origin of the calendar system

The fact that time flows in a certain circle, humanity has long realized on the basis of cyclically repeating events and phenomena, of which there are quite a lot. This, for example, is the change of day and night, the seasons, the rotation of the celestial spheres, and so on. Based on them, over time developed different kinds calendars. The basic unit of time of any of them is a day, which includes one rotation of the Earth around its own axis. Then the moon played an important role in history, the change of phases of which forms the so-called synodic month. It is named after the Greek word "synodos", which translates as "rapprochement". It's about about the approach of the sun and moon in the sky. And finally, the change of four seasons makes up the tropical year. Its name comes from the Greek "tropos", meaning "turn".

Why different peoples living on the same planet, are there different kinds of calendars? The answer is that the length of the circle, the synodic month, and the tropical year are not correlated with each other, which provides a lot of choice when compiling a calendar.

Three types of calendar

Based on the values ​​described in different time attempts were made to compile a calendar suitable for the life of society. Some of them were guided only by lunar cycles. Thus, lunar calendars appeared. As a rule, they numbered twelve months, focused only on the movement of the night star, and did not correlate with the change of seasons. Others, on the contrary, made their calculations only on the basis of the circle of the seasons, regardless of the moon and its rhythm. This approach gave rise to solar calendars. Still others took into account both cycles - solar and lunar. And, starting from the latter, they tried, one way or another, to reconcile both with each other. They gave rise to mixed solar-lunar calendars.

Moon calendar

Now let's discuss the nuances of time based solely on the movement of the moon. The lunar calendar, as already mentioned, is based on the synodic month - the cycle of changing lunar phases from new moon to full moon. The average duration of such a month is 29.53 days. Therefore, in most lunar calendars, a month lasts 29 or 30 days. The year usually consists of twelve months. Thus, it turns out that the length of the year is about 354.36 days. As a rule, it is rounded up to 354, while periodically introducing a leap year of 355 days. They do it differently everywhere. For example, the Turkish cycle is known, where there are three leap years for eight years. Another option, with a ratio of 30/11, is offered by the Arabic system, on the basis of which the traditional Muslim calendar is compiled.

Since the lunar calendars have nothing to do with the movement of the sun, they gradually diverge from it due to a difference of more than ten days a year. So, the solar calendar cycle of 34 years corresponds to 35 lunar years. Despite this inaccuracy, this system satisfied many peoples, especially in early stage development, when they were characterized by a nomadic lifestyle. The moon is easily observable in the sky, and this calendar does not require significant complex calculations. Over time, however, as the role of Agriculture, its capabilities turned out to be insufficient - a more rigid binding of months to the seasons and the range of agricultural work was required. This stimulated the development of the solar calendar.

Lack of the lunar calendar

In addition to the fact that a calendar based entirely on the lunar cycle differs significantly from the tropical year, it has another significant drawback. It consists in the fact that, due to a very complex orbit, the duration of the synodic month is constantly changing. The difference in this case can be up to six hours. It should be said that the starting point of the new month in the lunar calendar is not the new moon, which is difficult to observe, but the so-called neomenia - the first appearance of the young moon at sunset. This event follows the new moon 2 or 3 days later. At the same time, the time of neomenia depends on the time of year, the duration of the current month and the location of the observer. This means that a calendar calculated in one place will be completely inaccurate for another area. And in general, no system based on lunar cycles is capable of accurately reflecting the real movement of the night star.

solar calendar

The history of the calendar cannot be complete without mentioning the solar cycle. I must say that today it is the main form of time calculation. It is based on a tropical year of 365.24 days. To make the calculations more accurate, leap years are periodically introduced, which collect the accumulated "surplus" in one "extra" day. There are various systems of leap years, due to which many types of calendars based on the movement of the sun are known. The reference point is traditionally considered Therefore, one of the requirements of the solar calendar is that every year this event falls on the same date.

The first system of leap years had its weak point was that for 128 years it gained one extra day, and the equinox point shifted, respectively, back. This inaccuracy was attempted to be corrected different ways. For example, Omar Khayyam proposed a special 33-year cycle, which then became the basis of the Persian calendar. Later, at the initiative of Pope Gregory, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, which is the main civil calendar. modern society. He also gradually gains one extra day, but this period stretches from 128 years to 3300.

Another attempt to improve the Julian system was made by Milutin Milanković. He developed the so-called New Julian calendar, which gained an error per day already in 50,000 years. This is done thanks to a special rule regarding secular years (they can be considered leap years only if, when divided by 900, the remainder is 2 or 6). The disadvantage of the Gregorian and New Julian calendars, with their accuracy, is the fact that the date of the equinox becomes floating, and falls on different days every year.

Solar-lunar calendar

Finally, let's touch on the solar-lunar calendar. Its essence is to reconcile the movement of the sun with the movement of the moon in one cycle. To do this, it was necessary to periodically extend the year by one month. This year was called embolismic. IN Ancient Greece and Babylon, three additional months were introduced over the course of eight years. Its error is one and a half days for the entire eight-year period. A longer cycle, according to the history of the calendar, was adopted in China, although it was known in both Babylon and Greece. Its error is one day in 219 years.

Varieties of calendars

Now let's talk about what varieties of the calendar exist today. It will be about constructive, not about astronomical features. So, today flip, wall, pocket and tear-off calendars are most in demand.

Flip calendars

Another name for this type of printed publication is "house". Although some options may have a different design, including a plastic stand. The latter often form one unit with a pencil holder and staple compartments. The bottom line is that the flip calendar is designed so that the tables of the months are located on different pages that need to be flipped in a timely manner. Together with the calendar, various information or simply beautiful images that are included in the overall design of the room are very conveniently placed on them. Such products are used most often in offices, conveniently located in the corner of the desktop. The flip calendar also often serves as a gift or souvenir.

Wall calendar

Many in the kitchen have such a calendar attached to the wall, refrigerator door or door. Wall calendars are very popular because they are easy to use and their aesthetic value these days makes them a great home decoration. Sometimes they are combined with the technology of "houses". In this case, wall calendars, as a rule, are real albums dedicated to a particular topic. And the function, in fact, of calculating time fades into the background in them.

Pocket calendar

This type is probably the most common in our time. Pocket calendars are small cards, on one side of which there is, in fact, a calendar plate, and on the other - some kind of drawing. Very often, such products serve as bookmarks, business cards. Often they are used for advertising purposes. Pocket calendars are a kind of postcards that carry additional function. You can easily put them in your wallet and carry them with you, taking them out as needed.

Tear-off calendars

The Soviet tear-off calendar is familiar to everyone. Once they were found in almost every home, but today their popularity has fallen somewhat, although they are still often found. These products are real books, where each page is dedicated to one day of the year. When a new day dawns, the old page is torn off. That is why it is called detachable. There is some text on the back of the page. As a rule, each such calendar is dedicated to a topic and represents a fairly informative source within its framework.

Church calendars

A few words should also be said about what church calendar, since many, coming to the temple or reading church literature, are faced with a system of double dating. In fact, the church Orthodox calendar means the usual Julian calendar. Just for two thousand years, he began to lag behind the real astronomical course of time by almost two weeks. The Catholic Church corrected this, resulting in the Gregorian calendar. But the Orthodox did not accept this reform. The Russian Orthodox Church and several other independent jurisdictions, for example, still adhere to the Julian calendar. But most Orthodox churches The world still switched to the New Julian calendar, which currently coincides with the Gregorian.

The church calendar thus has at least three varieties. In some countries, in addition, churches use their own national calendars. For example, in Egypt, the Coptic system of chronology is common. Others have their own calendars religious organizations. Known, for example, Vedic, Buddhist, Islamic, Baha'i and other systems of time organization.

Mayan calendar

In conclusion, let us say a few words about what is ancient calendar Mayan. In fact, this is not one, but a whole system different chronologies. The civil calendar for the year of the Mayan Indians was sunny and consisted of 365 days. Its main purpose was to streamline agricultural life. There was also a ritual calendar called the Tzolkin. It translates as "counting days." It is somewhat unusual in its structure. So, the calendar for the year according to Tzolkin contained not 365, but 260 days. The latter were divided into two cycles - twenty-day and thirteen-day. The days of the first of them had their own name, and the second contained only a serial number. The Mayan time counting system also included such periods as tuns (360 days), katuns (20 tuns), baktuns (20 katuns). The epoch of 260 katuns was considered the largest. In terms of the counting system familiar to us, this is 5125 years. In 2012, one such era, called the fifth sun, ended, and a new era of the sixth began.

Today, the most famous chronology systems are the Julian calendar (“old”), introduced in the Roman Republic by Julius Caesar on January 1, 45 BC, and the Gregorian calendar (“new”), which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. But history also knows other calendars - some of them were used by the ancients, while others were put into use quite recently.

Mayan calendar

The Mayan calendar actually consists of three different calendars: the Long Count (astronomical calendar), the Tzolkin ( divine calendar) and Haab (civil calendar). The Haab calendar had 365 days, and it was divided into 19 months: 18 months had 20 days, and 19 months had only 5 days. The Tzolkin had 20 "periods" of 13 days each. The Tzolkin was used to determine the days of Maya ceremonies and religious events. The long count was used to determine long periods of time in the "general cycle", which has 2.88 million days (about 7885 years). The ancient Maya believed that the universe was destroyed and rebuilt every 2.88 million days.

International corrected calendar

The International Corrected Calendar has 13 months, each with 28 days. Months in it go, as in a regular calendar - from January to December, and also in June-July, the 13th month is added - "Sol". According to such a calendar, Easter will always be on April 15, every Christmas will fall on Wednesday, and every year will start on Sunday. However, every month the 13th will be a Friday. The calendar was made by Moses Costworth in 1899 but was never adopted.

Egyptian calendar

The first calendar that the ancient Egyptians began to use is the lunar calendar, based on the floods of the Nile River. This calendar turned out to be very inaccurate, and an error of up to 80 days could occur in it. Therefore, the Egyptians introduced a solar calendar based on the movement of the star Sirius. The two calendars were in use at the same time, but they soon began to differ greatly, forcing the Egyptians to add an extra month to the lunar calendar every three years. But even with the extra month, the calendars didn't match, so the Egyptians introduced a new calendar that had 365 days divided into 12 months. Each month had 30 days, and at the end of the year 5 extra days were added.

positivist calendar

The positivist calendar was intended to replace the Catholic calendar. It was invented in 1849 by Auguste Comte. In all of his 13 months, there were exactly 28 days, divided into four seven-day weeks. Each week of this calendar is dedicated to outstanding personality in world history.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar was solar-lunar, that is, it was calculated based on the position of the Sun and Moon. There were 12 months and 353-355 days in a year, while a whole extra month was added in a leap year (resulting in 383-385 days in a year). A leap month was added about once every three years. Although this calendar is still used in China, it is mainly used to calculate the days of Chinese ceremonies and weddings, and the Gregorian calendar is used for everything else.

Ethiopian orthodox calendar

Ethiopia celebrated the new millennium on September 12, 2007, seven and a half years after the rest of the world. This happened because in Ethiopia they use the Coptic Orthodox calendar, which has 13 months of 30 days each. In leap years, an extra month of five or six days is added. The calendar was often used in the West until 1582, after which it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. Ethiopia did not switch to the Gregorian calendar due to excessive conservatism and religiosity in the country.

French revolutionary calendar

The French Revolutionary Calendar is also called the French Republican Calendar and was an unsuccessful attempt to "de-Christianize" France. The calendar was used in France from October 24, 1793 until January 1, 1806, when it was finally abolished. The year of the beginning of the revolution (1792) was declared the beginning new era. The era "from the birth of Christ" and the beginning of the year on January 1 were abolished. Instead, each year began on September 22 (the first day of the Republic). Given that the calendar was introduced in 1793, it had a 1st year, instead, the countdown immediately started from the 2nd year.

Roman calendar

The Roman calendar is a perfect example of what a calendar shouldn't look like. This chronology, sometimes referred to as the "pre-Julian calendar", was created by King Romulus during the founding of Rome. The calendar had 10 months, a total of 304 days, and an additional 61 days that were not included in any month or week. Since the months did not coincide with the seasons of the year, King Numa Pompilius added two extra months, januarius (January) and februarius (February). Subsequently, the pontiffs added additional months for their own personal purposes. Some of them were even bribed to add or reduce the length of the year. Julius Caesar later introduced the Julian calendar after he became pontiff.

Aztec calendar

The Aztec calendar was made up of two different calendars: Xiupoualli and Tonalpoualli. The regular Xi'poualli calendar had 365 days, divided into 18 months of 20 days each. Five extra days were added at the end of the year, and another 12 days were added every 52 years. The tonalpoualli ritual calendar had 20 months divided into 13 days, i.e. there were 260 days in a year. Each of these 260 days was designated by a separate symbol and was dedicated to a particular god. Both calendars coincided once every 52 years, and the Aztecs believed that the world could be destroyed at the end of each such cycle. To avert impending doom, they performed a 12-day ritual called the New Fire Festival, during which they practiced human sacrifice.

We are used to the fact that the calendar that is used today is the most accurate and convenient version of the chronology. After all, he uses most of world, and we tie all events only to its designations. But this system was put into use only in the sixteenth century. And Pope Gregory XIII is responsible for the current calendar. It was during his reign that the style of calculating years, called the Gregorian, was introduced.

Official calendar - Gregorian

Before him, people tried to coordinate the change of seasons and the length sunny days. In addition, there was a certain difficulty in reconciling the various calendars with each other, since in every corner of the world time was calculated in its own way.

For example, the fact is eloquent that when the Julian calendar was adopted in Russia, it was decided to consider the beginning of the year March 1, while in the original it was September 1. Moreover, although this calendar was proposed by Julius Caesar as early as 45 BC, in Russia it began to function only in 988 with the introduction of Christianity. What is the calendar in Russia now? The same as in the whole world - Gregorian.

And although today the Gregorian calendar is considered the most convenient and most optimal, it also has a number of disadvantages. For example, a leap year is not necessarily one in four. At the time when the calendar was kept, it was decided not to count leap years, which end in two zeros and hundreds are not multiples of four. So it was easier to adjust the number of days to real time. It is also considered a disadvantage that each year begins with different day weeks (although this minus is rather doubtful).

In this regard, for the last couple of centuries, scientists have been trying to find an alternative to the Gregorian calendar. And, although there were enough proposals, the only true and acceptable one was not received.

Which calendar is better: solar or lunar

In order to more fully answer the question of what kind of calendars exist, it is worth giving their general classification. All calendars that are known to mankind can be divided into three general categories. These are solar, lunar and solar-lunar.

The solar calendar is tied to a complete revolution of the earth around the sun - that is, to the so-called tropical year. This means that a complete change of seasons must take place during the mentioned cycle. The official Gregorian calendar is solar.

The lunar calendar is tied to the lunar month. That is, it is based on the change in the phases of the moon, visible from the same point. Usually, the length of the lunar month fluctuates, and is a fractional number days. This has to be compensated by adding a day.

The solar-lunar calendar takes into account both the tropical year and the lunar month. It takes into account the number of days in a month, depends on the alternation of the phases of the moon. The number of lunar months that "fit" in a tropical year also changes.

Every nation has its own calendar

Sometimes people cannot switch to the generally accepted calendar, considering their own to be the most correct. What are the calendars in the world? For example, in Israel, along with the official Gregorian calendar, Hebrew is used. The Israeli people celebrate the holidays according to their calendar and even write the corresponding dates in official documents. This calendar also went through a period of formation, and in different years characterized by different features.

In Japan in the nineteenth century, the Gregorian calendar was officially introduced. However, traditional Japanese remained, and its system of counting years, as well as in Israel, is used by the people.

The most famous calendar that is not currently in use is perhaps the Mayan calendar. This ancient people managed to compose his system of chronology in such a way that the echoes of his efforts reached modern people. After all, the end of the world that we experienced in 2012 was mistakenly “read” and predicted thanks to this calendar.

To answer the question of what kind of calendars are, one article is not enough. We did not mention the Armenian calendar, Irish, Soviet, Ethiopian. Each of them is special and interesting for many facts, and not just the name and the period of calculation.