Just Exactly What Calendar Are We Supposed To Follow?

I decided it was time to put this thread together. I had been holding off thinking it was useless, but I feel it is important to demonstrate the many different ways civilizations in different parts of the world and centuries chose to follow the evolution of our planet around the our Sun. Tracking the seasons as they changed, mapping the stars, using the Moon phases, etc.

Just exactly which calendar is the most accurate? Which one can we rely on to be our guide with the changing of our solar system, our Galaxy, our Universe? They all have completely different time frames associated with each. Some have been drastically changed and some we are not able to even translate. Makes no difference does it? No one knows when the beginning of our civilization actually began? If the Earth is over 4 billion years old and we have been populated many times since, what calendar could possibly tell us this? Not one of them.
Making any predictions about anything with the use of any of these calendars is futile.

However, the stars in the sky and the Moon that is attached to us and the Sun we revolve around and the Planets that are attached to us and the Galaxy we spin through and the Universe we belong to have never stayed the same and they will continue to change. We just have very little way of knowing except what we can see and can document through the recent history and the recent calendar; like our ancestors did with their calendar system. Sure we can try to decipher and we can hand down information to the next generation just like they did; it will get re-written and revised and interpreted just the same.

I have given examples of several calendars and the source I used.

A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes.
en.wikipedia.org...

History of calendars
en.wikipedia.org...

The history of calendars spans several thousand years. In many early civilizations, calendar systems were developed. For example, in Summer, the birthplace of the modern sexagesimal system, there were 12 months of 29 or 30 days apiece, much like the modern Gregorian calendar. Mesoamerican cultures also developed their own intricate calendars; the ancient Maya had two separate years—the 260-day Sacred Round, and the 365-day Vague Year. Classical Greek and Roman cultures also developed calendars; the ancient Athenians, for one, had a lunisolar calendar that lasted 364 days, with an intercalary month added every other year. The Romans used two different year lengths; the older one had 304 days divided into 10 months; the newer 365 days divided into 12 months; very much like the modern calendar. They counted years from the founding of Rome, or, sometimes, from the reign of the current consul.

The ancient Sumerian calendar divided a year into 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days.[1] Each month began with the sighting of a new moon. Sumerian months had no uniform name throughout Sumer because of the religious diversity.

Of all the ancient calendar systems, the Maya and other Mesoamerican systems are the most complex. The Mayan calendar had 2 years, the 260-day Sacred Round, or tzolkin, and the 365-day Vague Year, or haab.
The Sacred Round of 260 days is composed of two smaller cycles: the numbers 1 through 13, coupled with 20 different day names: Imix, Ik, Akbal, Kan, Chicchan, Cimi, Manik, Lamat, Muluc, Oc, Chuen, Eb, Ben, Ix, Men, Cib, Caban, Eiznab, Cauac, and Ahau. The Sacred Round was used to determine important activities related to the gods and humans: name individuals, predict the future, decide on auspicious dates for battles, marriages, and so on.

The ancient Athenian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with 354 day years, consisting of twelve months of alternating length of 29 or 30 days. To keep the calendar in line with the solar year of 365.25 days, an extra, intercalary month was added in every other year.[citation needed] The Athenian months were called Hekatombion, Metageitnion, Boedromion, Pyanepsion, Maimakterion, Poseidon, Gamelion, Anthesterion, Elaphebolion, Munychion, Thargelion, and Skirophorion.[5] The intercalary month usually came after Poseidon, and was called second Poseidon.

The Romans had an eight day week, with the market-day falling every eight days.

The old Roman year had 304 days divided into 10 months, beginning on XI Kal. Maius, or 21 April.[7] The extra months Ianuarius and Februarius had been invented as stop-gaps.[7] Julius Caesar realised that the system had become inoperable, so he effected drastic changes in the year of his third consulship.[7] The New Year in 709 AUC began on 1 January and ran over 365 days until 31 December.[7] Further adjustments were made under Augustus, who introduced the concept of the "leap year" in 737 AUC (AD 4).[7] The resultant Julian calendar remained in almost universal use in Europe until 1582.

Viking calendar - Winter" lasted from October to April.[9] The two day period when winter began, the Winter Nights or veturnætur, occurred around the middle of October.[11] It was a particularly holy time of the year, when sacrifices were made to the local guardian spirits and other social events such as games meetings and weddings took place.[11] The first month of winter, Gormánuður, was also the time when animals were slaughtered so that their meat could be stored for the winter.

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well.
The Chinese year beginning January 23, 2012 is reckoned in the seldom-used continuously numbered system to be 4709, 4649, or 4710, depending on the epoch used.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Hebrew calendar (הלוח העברי ha'luach ha'ivri), or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portion, yahrzeits (dates to commemorate the death of a relative), and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses. In Israel, it is an official calendar for civil purposes and provides a time frame for agriculture. The current year of the Jewish calendar (16 September 2012 to 4 September 2013) is 5773.[1]
en.wikipedia.org...

Hindu calendar is a collective name for most of the lunisolar calendars and solar calendars used in India since ancient times. Since ancient times it has undergone many changes in the process of regionalization and today there are several regional Indian Hindu calendars.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Aztec calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica.
en.wikipedia.org...




continued in the next post

Native American calendars are different from the traditional twelve month calendars that are primarily used today. Though the type of calendar differed amongst tribes and the regions they inhabited most Native American calendars begun in the spring. This is because Native Americans placed much importance on nature and the earth, and since the spring months were the time of year that new plants and animals were born, it symbolized the beginning of a new year.
www.native-net.org...
The Roman calendar changed its form several times between the founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or 'pre-Julian' calendars. The calendar used after 46 BC is discussed under Julian calendar.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Soviet calendar added five- and six-day work weeks between 1929 and 1940 to the Gregorian calendar adopted by Russia in 1918. Although the traditional seven-day week was still recognized, a day of rest on Sunday was replaced by one day of rest in each work week. Many sources erroneously state that the weeks were organized into 30-day months.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Julian calendar was the calendar in predominant use in most of Europe until it was superseded by the Gregorian calendar commencing in 1582, although it continued to be used as the civil calendar in some countries into the 20th century. The Gregorian calendar has now replaced the Julian calendar as the civil calendar in all countries which formerly used it. Most Christian denominations in the West and areas evangelized by Western churches have also replaced it with the Gregorian calendar as the basis for their liturgical calendars.
en.wikipedia.org...

An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content. Despite the name, most commercially available Advent calendars begin on December 1, regardless of when Advent begins, which can be as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. Many take the form of a large rectangular card with "windows" of which there are often 24; one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. One is opened every day during Advent.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Gregorian calendar, also called the Western calendar and the Christian calendar, is internationally the most widely accepted civil calendar.[1][2][3] It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582; the decree, a papal bull, is known by its opening words, Inter gravissimas.[4] The reformed calendar was adopted later that year by a handful of countries, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries.
en.wikipedia.org...

Take care and much love to all.

Ascension211

This the calendar that I follow cause it's not only warm and fuzzy but it makes me feel better about myself.

Balls to you



See you all in 2013 for the Taco bell edition