Transcript calendars

Genealogical Dates
Dates, together with names, are the building blocks of “raw” genealogical
data
Unfortunately, dates in genealogical texts may not be as simple as one would
hope, e.g. 1641 Dn. 10. p.Tr., or 7 xochitl 1 ocelotl 13 tecpatl

Three common systems have been used to date events:
ritual
lunar
solar
The Aztec Calendars
Tonalpohualli – Ritual Calendar
Two independent cycles that advance simultaneously
One cycle of 13 days
One cycle of 20 days
Results in a 260 day year of 20 weeks 13 days long
AZTEC DAY CYCLES
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13
•Cipactli (Crocodile) -- Ehecatl (Wind) -- Calli (House) -- Cuetzpalin (Lizard) -- Coatl (Snake) -- Miquiztli (Death) -•Mazatl (Deer) -- Tochtli (Rabbit) -- Atl (Water) -- Itzcuintli (Dog) -- Ozomahtli (Monkey) -- Malinalli (Grass) --
•Acatl (Reed) -- Ocelotl (Jaguar) -- Cuauhtli (Eagle) -- Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture) -- Ollin (Movement) –
•Tecpatl (Stone Knife) -- Quiahuitl (Rain) -- Xochitl (Flower)
AZTEC WEEKS
•Cipactli (Crocodile)
•Ozomahtli (Monkey)
•Ocelotl (Jaguar)
•Cuetzpalin (Lizard)
•Mazatl (Deer)
•Ollin (Movement)
•Xochitl (Flower)
•Itzcuintli (Dog)
•Acatl (Reed)
•Calli (House)
•Miquiztli (Death)
•Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture)
•Quiahuitl (Rain)
•Atl (Water)
•Malinalli (Grass)
•Ehecatl (Wind)
•Coatl (Snake)
•Cuauhtli (Eagle)
•Tecpatl (Stone Knife)
•Tochtli (Rabbit)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Tecpatl (Stone Knife)
Quiahuitl (Rain)
Xochitl (Flower)
Cipactli (Crocodile)
Ehecatl (Wind)
Calli (House)
Cuetzpalin (Lizard)
Coatl (Snake)
8
Miquiztli (Death)
9
10
11
12
13
Mazatl (Deer)
Tochtli (Rabbit)
Atl (Water)
Itzcuintli (Dog)
Ozomahtli (Monkey)
Malinalli (Grass)
Acatl (Reed)
Ocelotl (Jaguar)
Cuauhtli (Eagle)
Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture)
Ollin (Movement)
Xiuhpohualli – Agricultural Calendar

Eighteen months of 20 days each

A five day period ending the year

Results in a 365 day year
AZTEC MONTHS
Atlacacauallo (ceasing of water) -- Tlacaxipehualiztli (flaying of men) -- Tozoztontli (little vigil) -Hueytozoztli (great vigil) -- Toxcatl (dryness) -- Etzalcualiztli (meal of maize & beans) –
Tecuilhuitontli (small feast of the lords) -- Tecuilhuitontli (small feast of the lords) -Tlaxochimaco (birth of flowers) – Xocotlhuetzin (fall of fruit) & Hueymiccaihuitl (great feast of the dead) –
Ochpaniztli (sweeping of the roads) -- Teoleco (return of the gods) -- Tepeihuitl (feast of the hills) –
Quecholli (precious feather) -- Panquetzaliztli (raising of the banner) -- Atemoztli (water descends) –
Tititl (stretching) -- Izcalli (resuscitation) – [Nemontemi (empty days)]
AZTEC YEARS
Years (xihuitl) are taken from the tonalpohualli day name that
corresponds to the last day of the last month of the xiuhpohualli
Calli, Tochtli, Acatl, and Tecpatl are the only mathematical
possibilities: e.g. 1 Rabbit, 8 Reed, 13 House
The xiuhpohualli continued for a 52 year cycle [xiuhmolpilli],
the period necessary for it and the tonalpohualli to coincide
Other Calendars of
Significance to Your Work
Hebrew*
Roman
Julian
Gregorian
French Republican
Quaker*
* Will not see text in Latin
Hebrew Calendar -- Lunisolar
Days of the Week
Months of the Year
1.
yom rishon (Sunday)
1.
Nisan (30 days)
2.
yom sheni (Monday)
2.
Iyyar (29 days)
3.
yom sh'lishi (Tuesday)
3.
Sivan (30 days)
4.
yom revi'i (Wednesday)
4.
Tammuz (29 days)
5.
yom chamishi (Thursday)
5.
Av (30 days)
6.
yom shishi (Friday)
6.
Elul (29 days)
7.
Shabbat
7.
Tishri (30 days)
8.
Cheshvan (29 or 30 days)
9.
Kislev (30 or 29 days)
10. Tevet (29 days)
When Adar enters, joy increases
11. Sh'vat (30 days)
12. Adar (29 days)
JEWISH MONTHS
The Jewish month is based on the lunar or synodic month.
Since the exact duration of one revolution is a little over 29.5 days, the length
of the months normally alternates between 29 and 30 days.
A month of 30 days is called male ('full'), one of 29 days chaser ('defective').
There are two months, Cheshvan and Kislev, which are male in some years
and chaser in others.
The first day of each month (with the exception of Rosh Hashana) is Rosh
Chodesh (lit. 'head of the month') - and so is the thirtieth day of the preceding
month, if there is one.
For example, if a gravestone inscription mentions the first day of Rosh
Chodesh Elul, the calendar date 30 Av is meant.
JEWISH YEARS
An ordinary year consists of twelve months
When Cheshvan has 29 days and Kislev 30, it is “regular”
If both have 30 days, it is “complete” or “excessive”
If both have 29 days it is “defective”
Thus, an ordinary year can have 353, 354 or 355 days, and
a leap year 383, 384, or 385 days
Count begins with the Creation, 3760 BCE
What is the problem?
LEAP YEARS
A lunar year of 354 days is about 11 days shorter than the solar year
If the Jewish calendar were based exclusively on the lunar year, Pesach (15
Nisan) would fall in the spring in one year, in the winter a few years later, etc.
The Tora says that Pesach must be celebrated in the spring:
‫ הָָאבִיב‬,‫ בְח ֹדֶּ ׁש‬,‫ אַתֶּם יֹצְאִים‬,‫( ד הַּיֹום‬Shemot 13:4)
 so the average length of the Jewish year must be adjusted to the solar year.
This is achieved by adding an entire month about every three years in a 19 year
cycle.
In each cycle of 19 years, the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years are
leap years, the others are common years.
Mathematics
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+29+29+30+29=353 (deficient common year)
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29=354 (regular common year)
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+30+29+30+29=355 (complete common year)
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+29+29+30+30+29 =383 (deficient leap year)
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+29 =384 (regular leap year)
30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+30+29+30+30+29 =385 (complete leap year)
Name
Composite Calendar
Length in a
Length in a
Length in a
deficient year
regular year
complete year
Tishri
30
30
30
Heshvan
29
29
30
Kislev
29
30
30
Tevet
29
29
29
Shevat
30
30
30
(Adar I
30
30
30)
Adar II
29
29
29
Nisan
30
30
30
Iyar
29
29
29
Sivan
30
30
30
Tammuz
29
29
29
Av
30
30
30
Elul
29
29
29
353 or 383
354 or 384
355 or 385
Total:
JEWISH NEW YEAR
The new year (Rosh Hashanah [or Rosh Hashana]) falls on Tishri 1, which falls at the
mean conjunction (new moon) of Tishri, except in the case of a “postponement”
1. If the mean conjunction is at midday or after, then Rosh Hashanah is delayed by
a day
2. Rosh Hashanah cannot fall on a Sunday (as this would make Hoshanah Rabba
fall on Saturday) or Wednesday or Friday (as this would make Yom Kippur fall
adjacent to the Sabbath)
3. If Rosh Hashanah falls on a Tuesday and the mean conjunction of Tishri for the
following year is to fall after midday, application of the previous two rules would
result in delaying the following Rosh Hashanah from Saturday until Monday and
would cause an unacceptable year length of 356 days; instead, this year's Rosh
Hashanah is delayed until Thursday
4 Rosh Hashanah on Monday after a leap year can cause the finishing year to be
too short, so Rosh Hashanah is delayed until Tuesday
The Traditional European Calendar
With the exception of some religious groups, most Europeans
have used a solar calendar
The Julian calendar was used from Roman times and was
replace by the Gregorian calendar. The two calendars differ
only in their treatments of leap years
Purpose of the conversion was to put dates back in sync with
observable positions of the sun and to keep them there
Why was there a meaningful problem?
The Problem -- Easter
Associated by the Council of Nicea with the vernal equinox
Vernal equinox was defined as 21 March
Even with a leap year, the Julian calendar was “off” by 11 min.
Over 1300 years this amounted to a 10 day variance
The Solution
Ten days were dropped from the year as an one time event
Centennial years not divisible by 400 would not be leap years
The New Problem –a Divided Orthodox Faith
and Heterodox Christianity
Protestant groups adopted the new calendar slowly
Major challenges to research:
Where?
When?
How do you tell the difference?
All dates before 1582 are not Gregorian
By 1752, most dates are Gregorian
For the period 1583-1752 there is a potential problem
The system is overtly stated
Nun folgen die Kinder die nach dem Neuen Calendar getaufft worden
N.S (Neustil / New style)
The system is implicitly stated
Check day of the week on a perpetual calendar
Check for religious holidays on a perpetual calendar
i.e. Pentecost can only occur on a Sunday
Check conversion chart in text
Converting a Date
Julian to Gregorian (+) – Gregorian to Julian (-)
For dates through
28 February 1700
add 10 days
28 February 1800
add 11 days
28 February 1900
add 12 days
28 February 2100
add 13 days
07 August 1956 to Julian
1956
8
07
-13
1956
7
25
[July has 31 days]
Determining the Year
New Year’s Day has not always been
1 January
Christmas, 25 December (esp. before 1400)
Easter (Vernal Equinox) 25 March (esp. UK
areas through 1752)
Need to review the register to see
which month is the first under each
year
H[ic] s[epultus] e[st] the body of Tho[mas] the sonn of Tho[mas] Lambert gent[leman] who
was borne May Y 13 An[no] Do[mini] 1683 & dyed Feb[ruary] 19 the same year
Example
Benjamin Franklin
b. 17 January 1706; d. 17 April 1790
Julian dates, b. 06 January.; d. 06 April
If born in Boston, a Catholic area
New Years Day = 01 January
If born in Philadelphia
New Years Day = 25 March
b. 1706 or 1705; d. 1790
Perpetual Calendar Indicies
Julian and Gregorian calendars do not vary in the number of
months per year, nor in the number of days per month.
The same 14 calendars apply to both systems, therefore; but
the systems do not use the same calendar for any given year
Which calendar you need to consult is indexed in your text
Perpetual Calendar
Calendars are not the same every year, since 365/366 is not
divisible by 7
2001 January 01 = Monday
2002 January 01 = Tuesday
2003 January 01 = Wednesday
How many are possible?
Perpetual Calendar no. 2 of 14
The Church Calendar
Sometimes dates in genealogical texts are recorded
according to the church calendar
1641 Dn. 10. p.Tr
Most feast days are fixed. See text p. 62-155
Many of the major feasts are “moveable” i.e. they do not
occur on the same day every year. Their date is relative to
another event or feast
e.g. Corpus Christi day is the Thursday after Trinity, which is the first
Sunday after Pentecost, which is the seventh Sunday after Easter. Easter
is the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the
vernal equinox.
Easter
Easter is celebrated on the first
Sunday after the first full moon
that occurs on or after the vernal
equinox
The dates of historical Easters
have been calculated and are
present as a chart in your text
Some variations in calculating
when there was a full moon led to
different dates for Easter. This
occurred primarily in Protestant
Denmark, Finland, Germany, and
Sweden.
Examples
1641 Dominica 10 post Trinitatis
10 Sundays after Trinity, which is 1 Sunday after Pentecost, which is 7 Sundays after
Easter, which in the Julian calendar of 1641 was 25 April
Equals 10 Sundays + 1 Sunday + 7 Sundays after 25 April, or
29 August, 1641
Karl Nilsson, baptized “Oculi 1750” in Sweden
Oculi = 4th Sunday before Easter
Sweden converted to Gregorian calendar in 1753
Julian date for Easter 1750 was 14 April, but 1750 was a variant year for Sweden: 18
March
Calendar #2 is indexed for 1750. Counting back, 4th Sunday before Easter was 18
February
redditum --Document no. 17b
In n[om]i[n]e s[an]c[t]e et individue trinitatis am[en]. Q[uonda]m oblivioni et calumpnie nichil efficati[us] adv[er]satur
q[ua]m scriptura et operationis s[an]c[t]e propositum nulla debet occasio impedire: hui[us] siquidem
rationis intiutu ad perpetuendam memoriam donationis et elemosine mee formam
eius scripto decreuim[us] annotandam.
calumpnie: 1st dec. s. dat. fem. w/ adversatur
occasio: 3rd dec. s. nom. fem. w/ nulla, subject of debet
perpetuendam: gerund, acc fem s. w/ ad; from perpetuendam
elemosine: 1st dec. s. gen. w/ mee and donationis