Wanna Fool Around with the Calendar—Again?

Finally the new year has arrived and a new calendar has begun. Yes, we all know January has 31 days. However, I’m not sure about some of the other months…like June, for instance. Does it have 31 days? Hard to remember. Which brings us to calendar reform. There are those who favor simplifying our calendar by making a year consist of thirteen months, each being exactly twenty-eight days long. The extra month might be called Sol (after our sun) and would fall between June and July, giving those of us in the northern hemisphere an extra month of summer. Nice. Among the advantages of this system, which could be called “the international fixed calendar,” is the fact that we wouldn’t need a new calendar every year. (Bad news for calendar makers). Every month would begin on a Sunday and end on a Saturday, and every date would fall on the same day of the week every year. But, of course, this so-called “fixed calendar” has only 364 days. So reformers suggest the extra day would be stuck between December 28 and January 1 and would be designated a world holiday, identified with no month or day of the week. Fun? In leap years, there would be a second world holiday between, say, June 28 and Sol 1. One of the disadvantages of this “fixed calendar” is that thirteen months can’t be easily divided into quarters for business purposes. This has led to a counter proposal that would have the calendar made up of four 91-day quarters, each consisting of a 31-day month followed by two 30-day months. Once again, however, that all adds up to only 364 days again so one extra day would be set aside for whatever. Well, people have been fooling around with calendars since before Moses. We doubt if anything will ever change, however. Not this year anyway. So Happy New Year, everyone!