Discuss @Thande 's latest article here
I wanted to get Ethiopia in there but I only had so much space.Amazingly, Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal still haven't switched to only using the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.
Amazingly, Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal still haven't switched to only using the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.
Rather than trying to track all that, I just said it's that and then said except it isn't, because they don't all start at the same time.Slight correction, @Thande — it’s 5780 and it has been for months. Except not really a correction, because most of 2019 was 5779, as you probably well know.
This does come to the problem of comparing “what year it is” — the Hebrew calendar ties the beginning of the civil year to the seventh new moon following the beginning of Spring, which means that we change the number a completely different time than you lot, who have tied it to the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord.
The talk of calendars in Rome being politically-motivated reminds me of the Hindu epic Mahabharata where, after losing a rigged game of dice where their kingdom was gambled, the Pandava clan was forced to give up their kingdom to their cousins the Kauravas for 12 years, then a thirteenth year where they had to be undiscovered. If discovered, they’d have to be in exile for 12 more years. So, the Pandavas spent 12 years in exile, then on the thirteenth year they hid in the royal palace of a neighbouring kingdom by being hired as servants. However, they then were forced to reveal themselves due to an attack by another kingdom.
However, then the Pandavas stated that the years referred in the game were the slightly shorter lunar years, according to which the thirteenth year has passed, but the Kauravas refused stating that the years were solar, according to which the thirteenth year had not passed. After failed negotiations, the result of this was a massive and brutal war of succession where all the Kauravas were killed and the Pandavas won not only their own kingdom, but the Kaurava kingdom as well.
Doesn't Saudi Arabia also use the Islamic calendar for immigration purposes (i.e., visas denominated in months are recknoned as Islamic calendar months)?Amazingly, Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal still haven't switched to only using the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.
Doesn't Saudi Arabia also use the Islamic calendar for immigration purposes (i.e., visas denominated in months are recknoned as Islamic calendar months)?
I think the medieval French also used Easter as New Year's Day at some point, which I suppose arguable makes that version of the Julian Calendar lunisolar.
Also I thought the Chinese rule was (usually) the second new moon after the winter solstice?