Julian calendar Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == New Year's Day == The Roman calendar began the year on 1 January, and this remained the start of the year after the Julian reform. However, even after local calendars were aligned to the Julian calendar, they started the new year on different dates. The Alexandrian calendar in Egypt started on 29 August (30 August after an Alexandrian leap year). Several local provincial calendars were aligned to start on the birthday of Augustus, 23 September. The indiction caused the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] year, which used the Julian calendar, to begin on 1 September; this date is still used in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] for the beginning of the liturgical year. When the Julian calendar was adopted in AD 988 by [[Vladimir I of Kiev]], the year was numbered Anno Mundi 6496, beginning on 1 March, six months after the start of the Byzantine Anno Mundi year with the same number. In 1492 (AM 7000), [[Ivan III]], according to church tradition, realigned the start of the year to 1 September, so that AM 7000 only lasted for six months in Russia, from 1 March to 31 August 1492.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://grigam.narod.ru/kalend/kalen19.htm| title = История календаря в России и в СССР (Calendar history in Russia and in the USSR).}}</ref> In Anglo-Saxon England, the year most commonly began on 25 December, which, as (approximately) the [[winter solstice]], had marked the start of the year in pagan times, though 25 March (the [[equinox]]) is occasionally documented in the 11th century. Sometimes the start of the year was reckoned as 24 September, the start of the so-called "western indiction" introduced by Bede.<ref>M. L. R. Beaven, "The Regnal Dates of Alfred, Edward the Elder, and Athelstan", English Historical Review 32 (1917) 517–531; idem, "The Beginning of the Year in the Alfredian Chronicle (866–87)", English Historical Review 33 (1918) 328–342.</ref> These practices changed after the Norman conquest. From 1087 to 1155 the English year began on 1 January, and from 1155 to 1751 it began on 25 March.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03738a.htm#beginning General Chronology (Beginning of the Year)].</ref> In 1752 it was moved back to 1 January. (See [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750|Calendar [New Style] Act 1750]]). Even before 1752, 1 January was sometimes treated as the start of the new year – for example by Pepys<ref>[http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1661/12/31/index.php Pepys Diary], "I sat down to end my journell for this year, ..."</ref> – while the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year".<ref name=MS>Spathaky, Mike [http://www.cree.name/genuki/dates.htm Old Style and New Style dates and the change to the Gregorian calendar].</ref> To reduce misunderstandings on the date, it was not uncommon for a date between 1 January and 24 March to be written as "1661/62". This was to explain to the reader that the year was 1661 counting from March and 1662 counting from January as the start of the year.<ref name=MS-oblique-stroke>Spathaky, Mike [http://www.cree.name/genuki/dates.htm Old Style and New Style dates and the change to the Gregorian calendar]. "An oblique stroke is by far the most usual indicator, but sometimes the alternative final figures of the year are written above and below a horizontal line, as in a fraction (a form which cannot easily be reproduced here in ASCII text). Very occasionally a hyphen is used, as 1733{{hyphen}}34."</ref> (For more detail, see [[Dual dating]]). {| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto;" |- ! Country !! Year starting<br />1 January<ref>[[John James Bond]], [https://archive.org/details/handybookrulesa01bondgoog "Commencement of the Year"], ''Handy-book of rules and tables for verifying dates with the Christian era'', (London: 1875), 91–101.</ref><ref>Mike Spathaky ''[http://www.cree.name/genuki/dates.htm Old Style and New Style Dates and the change to the Gregorian Calendar: A summary for genealogists.]''</ref> !!Adoption of<br /> new calendar |- | [[Holy Roman Empire]]<ref group=note>The source has Germany, whose current area during the sixteenth century was a major part of the Holy Roman Empire, a religiously divided confederation. The source is unclear as to whether all or only parts of the country made the change. In general, Roman Catholic countries made the change a few decades before Protestant countries did.</ref>|| 1544<ref group=note>Previously began on 25 December, with possible exceptions</ref> || 1582 |- | Spain, [[Portugal]] || 1556 || 1582 |- | [[Prussia]], [[Denmark–Norway]]|| 1559 || 1700 |- | Sweden || 1559 || 1753<ref group=note>Sweden started a conversion process in 1700, which was abandoned later that year due to the [[Great Northern War]], and in 1712 returned to the Julian calendar. In 1753 Sweden switched to the Gregorian calendar. See [[Swedish calendar]].</ref> |- |France || [[Edict of Roussillon|1567]]<ref group=note>Previously began on Easter Sunday, with several exceptions such as Lyon on 25 December and Vienne on 25 March</ref> || 1582 |- |[[Southern Netherlands]] || 1576<ref>Per decree of 16 June 1575. Hermann Grotefend, "[http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/gaeste/grotefend/g_o.htm#Osteranfang Osteranfang]" (Easter beginning), ''[http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/gaeste/grotefend/grotefend.htm Zeitrechnung de Deutschen Mittelalters und der Neuzeit]'' (Chronology of the German Middle Ages and modern times) (1891–1898).</ref> || 1582 |- | [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]] || 1579 || 1760 |- | [[Holland]], [[Zeeland]] || 1583 || 1582 |- | [[Dutch Republic]] except [[Holland]] and [[Zeeland]] || 1583 || 1700 |- | [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] || 1600<ref group=note>Previously began on 25 March from 1155</ref> || 1752 |- | Russia || 1700<ref group=note>Previously began on 1 March from 988 until 1492, and 1 September from 1492</ref> || 1918 |- | [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]] || 1750<ref>Alexandre Dumas, [https://archive.org/details/storiadelgoverno00duma/page/201 <!-- quote=toscana 1750 calendario gregoriano. --> Storia del governo della Toscana: sotto La casa de'Medici].</ref><ref>[https://www.florencewithguide.com/it/blog-it/il-calendario-fiorentino/ Il calendario fiorentino].</ref> || 1582<ref>Lorenzo Cattini, [https://books.google.com/books?id=v--l2PRjuJQC Legislazione toscana raccolta e illustrata], vol. 10, p. 208.</ref> |- | [[British Empire]] excluding [[Scotland]]|| 1752<ref group=note>Previously began on 25 March from 1155</ref> || 1752<ref group=note>1751 in England only lasted from 25 March to 31 December. The dates 1 January to 24 March which would have concluded 1751 under the old calendar became part of 1752 when the beginning of the numbered year was changed from 25 March to 1 January.</ref> |- | [[Republic of Venice]] || 1522<ref group=note>Previously began on 1 March</ref> || 1582 |- | [[Serbia]] || 1804{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} || 1918 |- | [[Ottoman Empire]] || 1918 || 1917<ref group=note>See [[Rumi calendar]] for details. It is often stated that Turkey adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1926 or 1927: in fact this is when it adopted the AD/CE [[epoch]].</ref> |} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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