Gregorian calendar facts for kids
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world today. It started being used in 1582. It replaced an older calendar called the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar had a small problem: it added an extra day every four years for a leap year without any exceptions.
The Julian year was exactly 365.25 days long. But the Earth actually takes about 365.2425 days to go around the Sun. This difference is about eleven minutes each year. Over many centuries, these eleven minutes added up.
By the 1500s, the seasons were out of sync with the calendar. For example, the first day of spring (the equinox) was happening about ten days earlier than it should have. To fix this, the calendar was moved forward ten days in 1582. This meant that after Thursday, October 4, 1582, the next day was Friday, October 15, 1582.
To stop this from happening again, they changed the leap year rule. Now, a year ending in '00' (like 1700 or 1800) would not be a leap year, unless it could be divided by 400. So, 2000 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.
The idea for this new calendar came from a doctor named Aloysius Lilius. Pope Gregory XIII made it official on February 24, 1582, and the calendar is named after him.
Contents
Months of the Year
The Gregorian calendar has twelve months. Here they are with their number of days:
- January (31 days)
- February (28 or 29 days)
- March (31 days)
- April (30 days)
- May (31 days)
- June (30 days)
- July (31 days)
- August (31 days)
- September (30 days)
- October (31 days)
- November (30 days)
- December (31 days)
If February has 28 days, the year is 365 days long. If February has 29 days, it's a leap year and has 366 days. A leap year usually happens every four years. For example, 2004, 2008, and 2012 were leap years.
When Countries Adopted It
Not all countries started using the new calendar at the same time.
- Spain, Portugal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and most of Italy began using it on Friday, October 15, 1582.
- France adopted it on Monday, December 20, 1582.
- The Protestant Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland also adopted it in December 1582. However, many non-Catholic countries didn't want to use it at first. They thought it was a Catholic invention.
The Kingdom of Great Britain and its empire (including parts of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar much later, in 1752. By then, they had to skip eleven days. So, Wednesday, September 2, 1752, was followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752.
Alaska's Calendar Change
When the US bought Alaska from Russia, the calendar changed there too. On Friday, October 6, 1867, it was followed by Friday, October 18, 1867. The day of the week stayed the same because the International Date Line was moved at the same time.
Russia's Calendar Change
In the USSR, the October Revolution of 1917 was celebrated in November. This is because in 1917, the Russian Empire still used the old Julian calendar. When they changed to the Gregorian calendar, the date of the revolution shifted to November.
Churches and the Calendar
In 1923, some Eastern Orthodox Churches started using the Gregorian calendar. This meant their Christmas Day was the same as Catholic and Protestant churches. However, the date of Easter is still calculated differently for them.
The Russian Orthodox Church did not accept this change. So, Russian Christmas Day is about two weeks after Christmas in most of Europe.
Japan's Calendar
Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar's way of figuring out leap years on January 1, 1873. However, they use numbers for months instead of names. Japan also starts year one with each new emperor's reign. For example, the Meiji era started in 1868, and Showa (Emperor Hirohito) started in 1926. The "Western calendar" (西暦, seireki) with its year numbers is also widely used in Japan.
Old Calendar in Britain
Old Style and New Style Dates
Some old dates in Britain were written with two different years. This was because Britain did not start a new year until March 25. So, for a few months, it was one year in Britain and the next year in other countries.
The letters OS (for Old Style) and NS (for New Style) were used to show which year was being used. For example, King Charles I died on January 30, 1649. In "Old Style," it was written as January 30, 1648 (OS). Using "New Style," as we do today, the correct date would be February 9, 1649.
British Tax Year
In the old calendar, the year started on March 25. When Britain changed to the Gregorian calendar, this date became April 5. This date was then used as the start of the year for taxes and rents. In 1800, the tax year shifted to April 6 because of how leap years were handled. It was not changed again in 1900. Because of this, the tax year in the United Kingdom still begins on April 6.
Images for kids
-
Memorial plaque to John Etty in All Saints' Church, North Street, York, showing his death date as 28 January 17089
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Calendario gregoriano para niños
