Time for a New Calendar

I haven't gotten around to buying a new calendar for 2016 yet. I just noticed that the one I usually make notes on is pretty much done for. Just a few days left of 2015 and I'm writing on the margin for stuff I need to do in January 2016. I've seen them in several stores, but I was holding out for one as an Xmas gift. Alas, Santa didn't come through, so now I've got to go out and buy one. Yes, I know I can use one on my iPad or laptop or iPhone, but it's not the same. I prefer to jot down notes the old-fashioned way sometimes. I like big, blank blocks I can write in for planning projects, remembering b-days and doing countdowns till our next sail date. Lin, on the other hand, uses her iPhone for all of her appointments, planning, etc. Still, it's traditional for me to buy her an annual Wicca calendar for her December birthday. She can keep track of Esbats and Sabbats that way and maybe learn a new spell or two. She refers to its “color of the day” reminder when getting dressed each morning, just to make sure she's in sync with the rest of her witchy world.

I've always been a bit confused by the Julian (named after Julius Caesar) versus the Gregorian (named after Pope Gregory VIII) calendar. Wikipedia explained that the Gregorian calendar in current use was developed in 1582 as a time adjustment to the Julian calendar amounting to a 0.002% correction in the length of the year. Evidently the motivation for the reform was so that the Christian Easter celebration stayed in sync with the spring equinox. Anyhow, people born around that time always have two birth dates, one according to the Gregorian calendar and the other according to the Julian. Two birthdays would be right up my alley.

There are at least 40 different active calendars in use throughout the world. For the Jews, for instance, it is now the year 5776. Their new year starts with Rosh Hashanah in September. The Muslims use the lunar Hijiri calendar beginning on July 1st and 2016 will be Year 1437 for them. The Chinese will celebrate their New Year on February 8th, 2016. The year of the Red Fire Monkey begins then.

I was planning to buy our new calendar soon or I could print my own. On second thought, we're heading to Las Vegas in a few days and Becky always gets several free calendars in the mail. I'm sure one of them will suit us just perfectly and the price is right. I can muddle through for a few days without knowing the date … we do that all the time on passage.

Whichever calendar you use, we wish you our traditional year's end happy holiday season and a prosperous and healthy new year.