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> I'm not sure why they're losing holidays - wouldn't those just follow under different Gregorian days, like Easter does? If you're referring to the "extra 11
by XaspR8d 10y ago
> I'm not sure why they're losing holidays - wouldn't those just follow under different Gregorian days, like Easter does?
If you're referring to the "extra 11 days", it doesn't have anything to do with losing holidays -- the solar calendar is simply 11 days longer than the lunar one. So in other words, it's a silly complaint.
Though I suppose if you earned a yearly salary on the lunar calendar and your employer gave you the same salary on the solar calendar, you'd be taking a 3% pay cut.
- dragonwriter 10y agoIt actually is losing holidays; if you have the same number of holidays per year, but more total days per year, you are losing holidays.
- Declanomous 10y agoIt sounds like the holidays that rotate around the year are Islamic Holy days though. Even countries that use the Gregorian calendar have holidays based on the Lunar calendar -- Easter for instance. > A slippery slope, the clergy warn, to forgetting the fasting month of Ramadan altogether; the authorities are rewinding the clock to the jahiliyyah, or pre-Islamic age of ignorance. This seems to indicate that larger issue is the fact that the current calendar is inextricably tied to Islam, whereas the new calendar is secular at best, or the tool of a different religion at worst.
- kefka 10y agoI would heartily agree that the Gregorian calendar is very much a Christian creation. Named after the Gregorian Monks. I honestly would prefer something based on a shared solar event. The Crab Nebula and supernova in 1088 ACE would be a good neutral place, as would other events, like Halley's Comet. It would be secular, and sold to the world as such. But it would put the focus on solar events, in which any number of peoples can use as an omen for their local system of religion and symbolism. Can't win everything here, but neutrality is certainly a laudable goal. (Edit: wow, quite a bit of -1's, and no real good reason why. I was hoping for a good neutral dialogue, rather than bemoaning current date systems. And also, it may have been Pope Gregory. It still is bound to the Catholic church.)
- eric_the_read 10y agoIt was actually named after Pope Gregory XIII, who commissioned it and introduced it 1582[0]. You may be thinking of Gregorian chant, which did arise from the Gregorian Monks. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar (edit: typo caused me to credit the wrong Pope.)
- ajlburke 10y agoThey're called "Gregorian Chants" because they were compiled by the much earlier Pope Gregory I (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_chant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_chant)
- eric_the_read 10y agoThanks for the correction!
- rwc 10y ago"Holidays" referring to days off ("vacation days") here, right? As opposed to "Holidays" meaning days like Easter/Christmas/New Years/etc.
- dragonwriter 10y agoEither way, actually.
- XaspR8d 10y agoYes but most of their holidays are still tied to the lunar calendar, so they will still be happening with the same relative frequency and the same number of days between them.
- bmm6o 10y agoThe Independent paints a different picture, where making the year 11 days longer (for the same "annual" pay) is a primary motivation: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-calendar-gregorian-switches-to-pay-workers-less-save-money-a7342331.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-ar...