World calendar

From Free net encyclopedia

The World Calendar is a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar created by Elizabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930.

1 Features
2 Background and history
3 Benefits and problems
4 See also
5 External links

[edit]

Features

The World Calendar is a Perpetual calendar of 12 months consisting of exactly 364 days in each year. Every year begins on a Sunday, and ends on a Saturday. Each of the year’s four quarters are exactly 91 days. The first month of each quarter (January, April, July, and October) are 31 days. The second and third months of each quarter consist of 30 days each.

The first month of each quarter always begins on a Sunday.

In order to make this possible, a day must be left off the calendar in common years. This day occurs after December 30, and is deemed “Worldsday.” This “intercalary” day is not counted as part of any month and is not a a day of the week (after Saturday comes Worldsday then Sunday).

In leap years, an additional day is inserted after June 30 and before July 1. This day also lies outside of the weekly cycle.

Leap Day

World's Day

January							February							March
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7				1	2	3	4						1	2
8	9	10	11	12	13	14	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
15	16	17	18	19	20	21	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
22	23	24	25	26	27	28	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
29	30	31					26	27	28	29	30			24	25	26	27	28	29	30

April							May							June
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7				1	2	3	4						1	2
8	9	10	11	12	13	14	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
15	16	17	18	19	20	21	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
22	23	24	25	26	27	28	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
29	30	31					26	27	28	29	30			24	25	26	27	28	29	30
							Leap Worldsday

July							August							September
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7				1	2	3	4						1	2
8	9	10	11	12	13	14	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
15	16	17	18	19	20	21	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
22	23	24	25	26	27	28	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
29	30	31					26	27	28	29	30			24	25	26	27	28	29	30

October							November							December
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7				1	2	3	4						1	2
8	9	10	11	12	13	14	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
15	16	17	18	19	20	21	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
22	23	24	25	26	27	28	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
29	30	31					26	27	28	29	30			24	25	26	27	28	29	30
							Worldsday

[edit]

Background and history

The World Calendar has its roots in the proposed calendar of Marco Mastrofini, who first published his proposal to reform the Gregorian Calendar in 1834.

Mastrofini suggested a calendar year of 364 days, always beginning on Sunday, January 1. The 365th day of the solar cycle would then be a year-end, "extra calendrical" day, and a holy day. In leap years, a second extra day would follow, regarded as the "intercalary day."

Elizabeth Achelis founded The World Calendar Association (WCA) in 1930, with the goal of worldwide adoption of the calendar. Throughout the 1930s, support for the concept grew in the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations. Achelis started the Journal of Calendar Reform in 1931, and wrote four books on the calendar concept in the following years.

Following World War II, Achelis solicited the support of several nations for the calendar, but the opposition of the United States scuttled any hope of its universal adoption. In 1956, she dissolved the WCA. It continued as the International World Calendar Association through the rest of the century before reorganizing in 2005.

[edit]

Benefits and problems

Supporters point out several benefits to the World Calendar over the current Gregorian Calendar.

Proponents refer to its simple structure. In each year, every weekday is assigned to the same date. Quarterly statistics would be easy to compare, since the four quarters are the same length each year.

Because the World Calendar is perpetual, there is no need to change it every year. The calendar corresponds from September 1 to February 28 with the Gregorian Calendar. Others dates occur up to two days later in the World calendar than in the Gregorian calendar.

But opponents point out that the two days counted outside the usual seven-day week disrupts the traditional weekly cycle. Leaders of religions whose adherents are required by faith to worship both on a particular weekday and every seven day cycle, particularly the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions, were said to have been strongly opposed to the World Calendar. They are believed to have played a key role in the United States government’s opposition in the 1950s.

The International World Calendar Association was founded in 1956 as a successor to the The World Calendar Association. Molly E. Kalkstein, a descendant of Achelis, served as the group’s president from 2000 to February, 2005. According to The World Calendar Association's official Website [1], the group's current director is Wayne Edward Richardson of Ellinwood, Kansas.

[edit]