Anno Lucis facts for kids
Anno Lucis means "in the Year of Light." It is a special way of dating used in Masonic events and records. To find the Anno Lucis year, you simply add 4000 to the current year on our regular calendar. For example, if it's 2024, then in Anno Lucis, it would be 6024. This system is a bit like Anno Mundi, which is another old way of counting years.
What is Anno Lucis?
Anno Lucis is a unique calendar era used by Freemasons. It was created in the 1700s. The idea behind it was to simplify older dating systems. These older systems tried to figure out the exact year the world was created.
How is it Calculated?
Let's say the current year is Anno Domini (AD) 2025. To get the Anno Lucis (AL) year, you just add 4000. So, 2025 AD becomes 6025 AL. This means that the year 4001 BC would be considered 'year zero' in this special calendar.
Why 4000 BC?
Many people in the past, especially after a religious text called the Masoretic text was published, believed the world was created around 4000 BC. This idea became very popular. Many scholars tried to calculate the exact date of creation. Their calculations often varied by several decades.
For example, the famous scientist Isaac Newton also calculated the creation year. His estimate pointed to the year 4000 BC.
Different Creation Dates
One of the most well-known calculations came from Archbishop Ussher. He specifically dated creation to 4004 BC. This date became very widely accepted, especially among Protestants, because it was linked to the King James Bible.
The Hebrew calendar has its own traditional date for creation. Since the 4th century AD, it has dated creation to 3761 BC. This date comes from an ancient text called Seder Olam Rabbah. It also matches what a Muslim historian named al-Biruni wrote. However, another old text, Seder Olam Zutta, suggests a different date: 4339 BC.
See also
- 40th century BC
- Holocene calendar – system that adds 10,000 years to the common era.
